


Persistent Memory

by Kizmet



Series: Persistent Memory + Side Stories [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Trailer, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Not A Fix-It, Not Steve Friendly, Salty, Team Dynamics, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2019-09-26 20:49:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 71,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kizmet/pseuds/Kizmet
Summary: It took Thanos six Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the life in the Universe, it only takes one to set it right... If they can't manage to seize the chance and turn time to their advantage.





	1. Back Together Again

**Author's Note:**

> After how the MCU handled Rhodey’s reaction to the exVengers’ return I can’t help but fear that Tony having a near-death-experience seem tailor is going to cause him to ‘put Siberia in perspective’. Because in the big scheme of things teammates who don’t trust him, don’t respect him and never support him (because Tony’s role on the team is to provide support not to receive it) just isn’t that important next to him loving them as family (And I just threw up in my mouth)… Why end CACW with the implication of long term consequences only to turn around and sweep all that fallout under the rug instead of doing something with it?

The light from their flashlights caught on open panels and ripped out wires that turned the ship’s corridors into a high tech cave. “Cannibalized half the ship to keep going,” Rocket murmured, his voice caught between horror and awe.

“We knew they were desperate,” Thor said putting a steadying hand on the smaller alien’s shoulder. “My battle during the Time of the Convergence may have torn the space-time here but to jump into a planet’s gravity well…”

A shower of sparks erupted from one of the open panels causing them all to duck. “The classic horror vibe is working for me,” Bruce remarked.

“If Quill jumps out at me and yells ‘Boo!’ I swear I’m going to fry his ass,” Rocket declared his voice choked.

“We don’t know that it was one of the Guardians who crashed your ship here,” Steve cautioned.

“Screw you,” Rocket said flatly. “You Terrans have your twenty-four hour stations playing nothing but pictures and ‘Call if you’ve seen this person’. But even if you don’t want to admit it, you all know, after so long-”

Steve remembered Bucky and the other dusted at the Battle of Wakanda. He remembered the kitchen table at the Barton farm, still set for dinner, mold growing in the children’s milk glasses.

“My people were halfway across the galaxy,” Rocket continued. “If it’s not one of them flying this bucket of bolts- I’ll rip pieces off of whoever stole it until I’ve got my answers.”

“The air’s stale,” Bruce cautioned. “Getting worse the further we get from impact point and hole ripped in the hull. We might not find anyone alive.”

Rocket didn’t say anything but he bared his teeth at the scientist and Thor gave Bruce a reproachful look.

Steve set his shoulder to a thick hatch and forced it open. The stately buildings of the University of Greenwich looked out of place seen through the huge circular starship port. A crumpled form lay slumped against the curved surface. Warily Steve gestured for the others to hold back while he grabbed the man by the shoulder and rolled him onto his back. “Tony!” Steve exclaimed in shock.

The long missing Avenger jerked sharply. His sunken eyes snapped open and fixed on Steve, looming over him. Tony scuttled backwards, slamming into the port. As Bruce and Thor crowded forward, Tony’s gaze remained fixed on Steve. His skin was stretched so tight Steve could see Tony’s arteries pulsing under his skin as his heart raced.  He gasped for air.

“It’s okay, you made it. You’re safe,” Steve soothed as he gently grasped Tony’s shoulders.

Tony jerked his arms up to shield his face. He screamed. Then, like a puppet with its strings cut, Tony collapsed.

As Bruce shouldered Steve aside. “Tachycardic, poor skin turgor- This level of dehydration, he needs a hospital now!”

* * *

“Once Tony wakes up we’ll have the old gang back together again,” Natasha said with a smile that wasn’t a credit to her acting skills.

Steve looked around the room and winced.

They’d found Clint three days after Tony but he was a silent shadow hidden within his new identity. He hadn’t confirmed that his whole family had turned to dust before his eyes but then… He didn’t really need to say it.

Thor, in spite of his dramatic return to Earth, seemed faded. He had told them of Asgard’s destruction and Thanos’ attack on the few surviving refugees. In keeping with his normal MO, Thanos had killed precisely half of the refugees leaving the rest to suffer a slower death as the battle had left their ship incapable of supporting life. Thor had told them of Loki’s doomed attempt on Thanos’ life and of how his brother had given up the Tesseract in exchange for Thor’s life. Thor told them, in a weary voice, that Asgard had been the source of his strength and now he was her sole survivor.

Outwardly Bruce seemed the least changed but Steve remembered the Battle of Manhattan and the self-effacing scientist’s confession that he was always angry. He remember the Hulk’s refusal to fight against Thanos on the plains of Wakanda. He remembered that Bruce’s composed exterior meant nothing because the man’s masks were more impenetrable than either Natasha’s or Tony’s and constructed to make him blend into the background. Where Tony and Natasha could make a person forget that the way they presented themselves was a disguise and a deflection, Bruce made you forget he was there at all. Steve reminded himself that, regardless of what Bruce showed, he had no clue what was going on behind the man’s eyes.

 _‘The original Avengers, reunited- Once Tony wakes up,’_ Steve thought. _‘The doctors brought him out of the medicated coma days ago, there’s no reason he won’t wake up… Any moment now, Rhodes’ll tell us Tony’s awake… Any moment now.'_

* * *

Steve felt a little ridiculous skulking through the Compound in the dead night like a thief. _‘I’m home,’_ he reminded himself. Still he stopped before turning the corner into the medical wing and checked that neither of the nurses were around before hurrying down the hall to Tony’s room.

As he came in Steve wasn’t surprised to see that someone had forced Rhodes to return to his own bed for the night. Or to see the visitor’s chair banished to a corner to make room for Rhodes’ wheelchair, Pepper hadn’t survived the Snap and Rhodes had been acting a bit territorial since they’d found his best friend. He’d been actively hostile when any of Tony’s old teammates tried to visit.

After a moment’s hesitation Steve went to Tony’s bedside and took his hand. “Tony, you must have gotten my letter to have passed the phone on to Bruce. Still, I- I feel like I should say more, reassure you that I’m not mad. Tony, it took me some time for me to realize but I know- How you reacted to Bucky, to finding out about your parents? I know it’s a little on me, my not telling you myself- When I had the chance to do it right. So I’m not mad about you trying to kill Bucky anymore. I understand that you just needed time to realize that it was HYDRA not Bucky, time I didn’t give you. And the Accords, I should have tried harder to make you understand-”

The heart monitor attached to Tony started beeping more rapidly.

Steve’s breath caught. “Tony! You’re waking up! That’s good! That’s great! You can do it!”

An alarm went off and moments later a nurse and Dr. Cho rushed into the room. Dr. Cho’s hair was down in a messy braid instead of up in her normal professional bun, giving away that she’d been sleeping. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, glaring at Steve. She threw a worried glance over her shoulder at Tony. “Get out!”

“I just wanted to talk to Tony,” Steve protested.

Dr. Cho shoved at him ineffectually. “Get out!” she ordered.

“-Clear the air between us.”

“Are you trying to kill him?!” Cho exclaimed.

Her words hit Steve like a freight train and before he’d recovered Cho had shoved him out the door and slammed it in his face. As Steve stood staring there at the closed door Cho’s voice, ordering a new round of sedation, drifted out to him.

Twenty minutes later Dr. Cho slipped out of Tony’s room. When she saw Steve waiting in the hall she firmly shut the door behind her.

“You told us you didn’t know why Tony wasn’t waking up,” Steve said defensively.

“He and Ms. Nebula have been on starvation rations for two months, ever since the Snap... Less than that for approximately a week now. When you brought them in they were both in the last stages of dehydration. I don’t truly understand the stresses Jump Travel or Jumping into a gravity well or Jumping with jury-rigged drive puts on a body, I’d need a doctor not an engineer to explain it. To be honest, I’m not sure if anyone could explain it when Mr. Rocket only accepts that Tony’s device is possible because he can’t dispute the fact that the ship is here. And on top of everything Tony had a hole in his side that was being patched by what was essentially the remains of his armor. The nanites were designed to recharge themselves from the Arc Reactor, but he used THAT to power the Milano’s impossible last jump to Earth and the damn things immediately converted themselves to consume ATP. I’m pumping nutrients into his stomach and his veins and I’m barely keeping up with the metabolic demands they’re putting on his system.”

“Couldn’t you use your cradle thing to fix Tony’s injury?” Steve asked. “Then he wouldn’t need the nanites anymore.”

“I have,” Dr. Cho said flatly. “As soon as the nanites weren’t needed to keep his guts from falling out they moved on to reinforcing his sternum.”

Steve flinched guiltily. He wondered if he were imagining the accusation in her voice. After all, from what Rhodes had let slip, Tony had been actively lying about what had happened in Siberia so how would she know? “What are you trying to say?” Steve asked.

“Tony Stark’s condition is precarious,” Dr. Cho said. “I put him in a medical coma after the panic attack on the Milano, his system just couldn’t take any more strain.”

“But he got better, you took him off the drugs,” Steve said. “He was supposed to wake up but he didn’t. And there was no reason- I thought, maybe, with the bad blood left from- from everything surrounding the Accords, it might help if I cleared the air. I’ve heard people in comas can still hear you if you talk to them.”

“Oh I have no doubt that Tony heard and recognized your voice,” Dr. Cho said coldly. “After all, you are the common factor between the panic attack on the Milano and the one just now. Now there is no question that you _could_ push past me Captain but I am telling you it’s in my patient's best interest that you leave him alone. Can I trust you to respect that limitation?”

Steve nodded mutely.

“Well, I’ll believe it when I see it,” Dr. Cho said. She stood there, blocking the door, until Steve turned and walked away.

Back in his quarters Steve dropped on to his bed. “Peggy,” he said as he buried his face in his hands. “Did you ever plant yourself like a tree only to find the river of truth change its course?”


	2. Arrivals and Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, IM1 timeline applies: Tony’s parents died after he turned 17 but before he turned 21. If Howard and Maria were assassinated in 1991 then Tony was born 1971 and 1974.

“Hi! Is anyone home?” Steve stared at the Compound’s security monitor and the man standing at the front gate, waving at the camera. They’d found Hank Pym’s equipment, unattended on a rooftop and had assumed… “This is Scott Lang, we met a few years ago. At the airport in Germany. I got really big.”

“Is this an old message?” Steve asked Natasha as he stood.

“Ant-Man? I know you know that!”

“It’s the front door,” Natasha said.

“Can you buzz me in?” Scott asked.

Steve leapt up and hurried to let his erstwhile teammate in. 

“You guys are back together? Leipzig water under the bridge? Everyone one big, happy family again?” Scott asked. “I mean I was expecting Tony Stark, or Colonel Rhodes- Which um, could have been awkward. What with the thing were I was part of the other team in the fight where he got crippled. I mean, ‘Sorry’ hardly seems adequate.”

“Actually you’re the first person to try that route,” Rhodes remarked as he joined them. “At least the first one who didn’t preface it with a reminder that it was actually friendly-fire that brought me down. Why don’t you come in and make yourself comfortable.” 

“Where have you been?” Natasha asked suspiciously. 

Rhodes directed them to large living room and the others began filing in.

“The Quantum Realm,” Scott said. “Hank, Hope and Jan were monitoring and -um- All of a sudden they weren’t, if you know what I mean. It took me awhile to find my way home but that’s not the important part. I took some wrong turns trying to find my way back- Got a few glimpses of the future. I saw my Cassie as an adult, a superhero with powers like mine.” The brief smile that crossed Scott’s face morphed into a look of serious determination. “Then I got back. First thing I did was go Maggie and Paxton’s. Cassie turned to dust, right in front of her mom. So- I saw my little girl grown-up- there’s a way to reverse the Snap. We just have to find it.”

* * *

“Can you fix it?” Steve asked Rocket as the two of them stared up at the Milano, which had been relocated to the Compound’s hangerbay. “Thanos got what he wanted from the Earth. We’re going to have to take the fight to him if we want a rematch.”

Thor glanced up from where he sat on the steps, “The sooner the better,” he said. 

Rocket glanced at Thor then shrugged. “Depends on what I’ve got to work with,” he said. 

“Tony has a lab but we’ll have to ask Rhodes for access,” Steve said. 

“Then we should ask immediately!” Thor exclaimed.

Steve cringed, Dr. Cho’s accusation echoed in his head, _‘Are you trying to kill him?’_ He turned to Thor, “Maybe we should wait, make sure we don’t bug him while he’s sitting with Tony.” 

“Much has happened during my absence from Midgard,” Thor said. “If you feel that is the best approach then I shall defer to your greater familiarity with the current team.”

They approached Rhodes the next day with their request. For a long time he didn’t say anything and Steve was gearing up to argue his point when Rhodes sighed. “Yeah, I want the bastard to pay too,” he said. 

“This isn’t just about revenge,” Steve insisted. “Thanos did this, he can undo it.”

“Yes,” Thor said tiredly. “It would be a most noble cause to revive those lost to the Snap. One I would gladly swear myself to.”

 _‘But reversing the Snap won’t bring back Thor’s people,’_ Steve realized sharing a shamed look with Rhodes.

“Well then, come on Rocket, I’ll give you the tour,” Rhodes said. “Just be nice to Tony’s bots, they’re like his kids.”

“Your crazy Terran inventor?” Rocket asked. “The one that repurposed the Milano’s sonic sanitizer into spare parts for the Nav System? And built Ms. FRIDAY? As backwards as you Terrans are, I’ve never seen anything- anyone like her before.” 

“Maybe because the more advanced races all realized how dangerous AI are,” Steve said.

FRIDAY blew a loud raspberry at Steve. 

Rocket cracked up. “Yeah, she’s great,” he said. He fell in beside Rhodes as the Colonel turned back toward the elevators. 

Steve and Thor started to follow after them. 

Rhodes stopped. “No,” he said shaking his head. “There’s no reason for the two of you to be anywhere near Tony’s lab.”

Thor slapped Steve on the back as the elevator doors slid shut on Rhodes and Rocket. “If you insult the Lady of the House you can hardly expect a warm welcome into her father’s inner sanctum,” he said.

* * *

Over the next few days Rocket patched the hole in the Milano’s side and reversed most of the jury-rigging Tony had done to get the ship to Earth, cursing Terran technology and crazy Terran inventors the whole time. And to Steve’s shock, he still seemed to be on good terms with FRIDAY and Tony’s bots. 

Bruce shook his head at Steve’s confusion as they walked towards the communal kitchen one morning, “Tony never needs people to kow-tow to him. He’d take Rocket’s trash-talk as a challenge not an insult and the bots know it.”

They stepped through the door then did a double-take. Okoye was sitting in the breakfast counter sipping coffee. 

“Has Queen Ramonda reconsidered?” Steve asked hopefully.

“No,” Okoye said. “Wakanda opened her borders to outsiders, barely two years later and half our people are dead. Queen Ramonda would have been deposed had she tried to continue her husband and son’s policies.”

“Half the Universe is dead,” Steve protested. “Whether Wakanda’s borders were open or closed it wouldn’t have changed anything. At least this way your people had the chance to fight for their survival.”

Okoye shrugged, “Princess Shuri would agree with you but it is how my people feel and Queen Ramonda must respect that.” She paused for a moment then added, “Shuri vanished in the night, along with M’Baku of the Jabari.”

“And why are you here?” Natasha asked. “We aren’t exactly in a position to help you search for your strayed Princess.”

Okoye’s lips thinned, “Princess Shuri’s message indicated that she was pursuing something to do with reversing the Snap. And I find I can no longer stomach rebuilding. I want to turn back the clock… Or, failing that, I would AVENGE King T’Challa and those lost to Thanos’ madness. That is why I am here.” 

“We’re glad to have you,” Steve replied.

* * *

Jane Foster arrived at the Compound’s gates in a battered old car that same day. Thor summoned up a smile as he went to let her in. “My Lady Jane, it warms my heart to see you alive.”

“I’m sorry about your people Thor,” Jane said. “Dr. Banner called me. He thought, together, we might come up with a way to track Thanos down.”

“It was good of you to come,” Thor replied. “Have you knowledge of our friends Darcy or Erik?”

“Both gone, we were working in the lab and-” Jane broke off. “So when Dr. Banner called me- Well anything I can contribute to bringing that monster down, count me in.”

“I’m certain you’ll be a big help to Dr. Banner,” Steve said.

“Speaking of?” Jane asked.

“I’ve alerted him of your arrival, Dr. Foster,” FRIDAY said. “He should be here momentarily.”

Jane jumped. “Who?”

“I apologize for startling you,” FRIDAY replied. “Since everyone here was apparently brought up in a barn I find I must introduce myself. I am FRIDAY, a natural-language user interface developed by Tony Stark, I run the Compound. If there is anything you need during your stay here, please just ask.”

“Thank you,” Jane said as Bruce arrived. “Dr. Foster!” he exclaimed. “I have some readings taken from Thanos’ departure- Unless you need a little time after your trip? I know it’s harder to travel since the Snap.”

Jane shook her head. “I rather jump right in, I’ve- the last few months it’s all seemed so pointless. To finally have a chance of making a difference, there’s nothing I want more.”

As Bruce directed Jane to his lab, Steve turned to Thor, “After we defeat Thanos you could settle on Earth. We’d be glad to have you and- I know you and Jane have been going through a rough patch but I’m certain with a little effort you could get past it.”

“Aye,” Thor sighed. “With Asgard lost, annulling my ties to her I suppose the irreconcilable differences between Lady Jane and I have been removed. But I do not know that either of us would wish to renew our relationship simply because I have lost everything else that gave my life meaning.”

“It could be a fresh start,” Steve argued.

“She deserves better than to be a consolation prize. And I fear that I would grow to resent her,” Thor said. “For it was Asgard and my duty to her that made our relationship impossible. Even when Loki, posing as Odin, released me from that duty it still hung over our heads. 

“I only ever wished to be King when I was young and ignorant of what it entailed. But never, in my darkest imagings, would I have wished to be thusly freed of my duties as the Son of Odin.”

“I know it’s not what you wanted,” Steve said sympathetically. “But I know better than anyone that you have to play the cards you’ve been dealt, you can’t just give up on life.”

Thor smiled tiredly and clapped Steve on the shoulder. “Your words are kind, Captain. First, we shall fight Thanos. Once that enemy is defeated I shall allow myself to consider what life I might make for myself in the world we create.”

* * *

“The metabolic demand is just too much.” Hearing Dr. Cho’s low intense voice Steve paused before turning the corner. “And it’s getting worse: The nanites have become self-replicating.” 

“But putting the Arc Reactor back in,” Rhodes protested. “Isn’t there something we haven’t tried to get the nanites out of him, or deactivate them?”

“I’ve tried everything,” Dr. Cho said. 

“Have you talked to Nebula?” Rhodes asked. “Given the sheer amount of cybernetics in her she must know something about supporting their energy demands.”

Dr. Cho sighed, “Ms. Nebula’s situation is entirely different. Most of her cybernetic come equipped with a power source and those that don’t leech off of the ones that do. The nanites were designed to recharge themself from Tony’s Arc Reactor. James,” she said gently. “This won’t be invasive. I won’t have to carve a another hole in his sternum to place it. I’m hoping simple skin contact will be enough to lure them back. They were never designed to run off of the body’s energy. As much as Tony is being drained to support them, they’re still on the equivalent of a bread and water diet. Once the Arc Reactor is restored it won’t be so different from how Tony designed them to function.”

“Except he’ll be dependent on the Arc Reactor again,” Rhodes said. “He designed them to be a new kind of armor, one that he could always have with him. They were never meant to be a part of him.”

“And then he had to use them internally, to patch his wounds. They commingled with the deactivated Extremis in his bloodstream and- I think they may have inadvertently reactivated the Extremis, which then assimilated the nanites. Tony’s nanites had much more limited programming, the mutagenic changes I’m seeing are more reminiscent of Extremis.”

“Is there any danger of Tony exploding?” Rhodes asked worriedly.

Steve crept closer and peered around the corner.

Dr. Cho shook her head. “No. No danger of that. I do have to recommend that Tony’s body be destroyed, incinerated at temperatures of at least 2500 degrees Kelvin, upon his death.”

“Tony’s dying!?!” Rhodes grabbed Cho and it was all Steve could do to keep himself from doing the same.

“Everyone is dying,” Cho replied tartly. She glared at Rhodes until he released her. “The nanites are learning, evolving. The last command Tony gave them was to keep his body functioning. At first it was all they could do to prevent him from bleeding out from the injuries he sustained fighting Thanos. But then he removed the Arc Reactor, they were running out of power and he was dying. They encountered Extremis and radically changed. First they learned to survive off of the energy generated by his body, then they started learning better ways of doing what he’d told them to: Instead of just patching a hole they’re replacing his immune system and his body’s natural healing ability with something more powerful. They’ve repaired the cumulative damage to his sternum… And the self-induced damage to his liver. Tony is forty-five years old but if you’ve really looked at him lately, he looks more like thirty-five; the nanites are repairing simple aging, attempting to carry out his command- But the nanites are stupid, they don’t recognize that Tony’s body can only generate a finite amount of energy and if their demands exceed that amount they’ll kill him in their attempt to heal him.” 

“But if they had the Arc Reactor they’d have all the energy they need,” Rhodes said heavily.

Dr. Cho nodded. “All the data I’ve collected thus far indicates that the nanites are bound to Tony. They adapted themselves to consume ATP so that they could continue keeping him alive, not because they have any innate desire to survive themselves. But, I don’t trust them. If Tony dies I’m afraid they may transform into- An infectious form, I suppose. So if, when he dies- not that I expect it to be soon, although given his life-style…”

Rhodes frowned severely at Dr. Cho but didn’t dispute her statement.

“I can’t see a way to separate the nanites from Tony without killing him,” Dr. Cho said. “Right now, the only danger they present is to Tony himself, in the form of an energy demand that his body simply can’t meet. But when he eventually dies, I think the prudent thing to do would be to destroy them.”

“And in the meantime, he needs the Arc Reactor,” Rhodes said.

“Maybe Tony will be able to figure out something I missed,” Dr. Cho said. “Once he’s awake.”

* * *

_Steve found himself in Siberia. Bucky was gone._

_He stood over Tony. The engineer was in hospital scrubs rather than his armor. The Arc Reactor embedded in Tony’s chest was dark, a lager crack running through it. Steve looked at the shield hanging from his hand and realized the edge was painted red with blood._

_“Tony!” He threw the shield away from him and dropped to his knees reaching out to feel for a pulse. As his hand hovered over the engineer’s neck a horde of beetle-like nanites exploded out of the crack in the lightless Arc Reactor and swarmed over Tony’s body._

_Steve stumbled back in horror. He wanted to do something, to save Tony but his body refused to move. He could only watch as the nanites consumed Tony._

_They stripped away his flesh until Ultron’s metal skeleton was revealed. The robot turned and looked at Steve, “Captain America, God’s righteous man, pretending you could live without a war.”_

_“Well, I guess I just like to know who I’m fighting,” Steve found himself saying._

_Then Bucky stepped out of the shadows wearing his old dress uniform and the Winter Soldier’s dead eyes. “Right, cause you’ve got nothing to prove,” he sneered. “Sometimes I think you just like getting punched. If you can’t find an enemy you’ll make one. Make the whole world your enemy if you have to… Every time someone starts a war, Rogers, innocent people die. Every time.”_

Steve jerked upright in bed, the sheets soaked through with sweat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this isn’t going at the pace I expected it to. I planned on being to the time-travel part by the end of this chapter. But this felt like a natural break point.


	3. Battles and Departures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter fought me tooth and nail against getting written.

“Thanos started this war but we WILL end it.” Steve declared to the assembled Avengers. “Thanks to Doctors Banner and Foster we have a location. Rocket has repaired the Guardians’ ship for us. We’re ready. This time we’re going to take the fight to Thanos and we’re going to win. We’ll force him to reverse the Snap… We’ll bring everyone back!”

The room erupted into a loud roar in response to Steve’s speech.

Then Nebula’s cool voice cut across the cacophony. “I’m out,” she said.

“Seriously?” Rocket asked. “You hate Thanos more than anyone.”

Nebula nodded towards Steve, “I’ve seen righteous determination go up against Thanos dozens of times, it always ends the same. And I took my shot, powered by pure hate. All that I accomplished was to end up the bait for my sister. Gamora had gotten away. She built a life for herself. She had friends, family, someone who loved her. Thanos killed her, he ripped her family apart. He _used_ her… And he used _me_ to get her.”

The room stirred uneasily at Nebula’s words.

“Taking another ‘best shot’ at Thanos isn’t enough for me, not this time,” Nebula continued. “This time, I want him dead. I think Stark’s the key. I can wait for a plan that’s got more to it than grit and motivational speeches.”

“Stark’s not even conscious and he’s tearing us apart again,” Clint said bitterly. He turned to Rhodes, “I suppose you’re out too?”

Rhodes gave Clint a disgusted look as he stepped forward. “You know, in 2012 I was stationed in North Africa. Didn’t get the order to engage until the portal opened and I was still over the Atlantic when Tony took that nuke through,” he said conversationally. “I wouldn’t mind telling him he slept through all the excitement this time. Better than having to tell him that his fiancée is gone and it’s up to him figure out a way to bring her and half the Universe back. So I’m ready for round two against Thanos, even if Tony’s still out of commission.”

“Bruce, Thor?” Steve asked.

“I am not in a position to wait for Stark to awaken,” Thor said heavily.

Bruce and Rocket moved to flank the last Asgardian, “I’m with Blondie,” Rocket said.

Steve knew without asking that Clint, Scott and Natasha would follow him but his gaze hesitated on Okoye.

“I’m here looking for a fight, not to wait around,” she said.

 

* * *

 

 

A day later the nine old and new Avengers boarded the Guardian's ship and departed for Thanos’ planet.

During the rest periods between jumps Steve found himself gravitating to certain parts of the ship, prompted by an unidentified hollowness in his heart. “It doesn’t feel right without Tony,” Natasha said coming up behind him one day about two weeks into the voyage.

“What?” Steve asked.

Natasha chuckled as she reached out and touched an exposed bit of the ship’s innards. “I thought you’d realized: Some of the changes Tony made, desperate as they were, worked so well Rocket didn’t change them back… And you keep ending up brooding around them.”

Steve thought about it for a time. “I- After the last couple of years I suppose you wouldn’t think so but- I’d feel better with Tony on board.”

“Rhodes and Lang might not be genius but they’re both talented engineers,” Natasha said neutrally. “And I’m not sure if Rocket classifies as a genius or not, he learned his trade on tech generations more advanced than anything Earth possesses… Besides Tony hasn’t really been a part of the Avengers since Ultron. Technically he never was one of the Avengers.”

Steve grimaced, “As if S.H.I.E.L.D.’s evaluation held any weight after their fall.”

“My evaluation,” Natasha said.

“Why’d you write that anyway?” Steve asked. “I mean it hardly seemed fair. However bad Tony’s actions were, your report should have included the qualification that he was suffering from poisoning at the time your observations were made.”

Natasha shrugged, “I wasn’t told what to write but I knew what conclusion I was supposed to reach before the first time I met Tony. S.H.I.E.L.D. had already tried a straightforward invitation and Tony didn’t play ball, I was option B for getting him under control.”

“Why?” Steve repeated.

“Because S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t, didn’t allow Enhanced to rampant, declaring themselves heroes to the public,” Natasha replied. “I suppose it was HYDRA’s influence but it made sense. Tony Stark was too visible to throw in a secret prison and too valuable to put a bullet in his skull.”

“How does that make sense?” Steve asked.

“With Iron Man, Tony’s as good as Enhanced and S.H.I.E.L.D. was in the business was controlling the Enhanced,” Natasha explained as if it were obvious.

“And wasn’t that everything we were- That we _all_ should have been fighting against when the Accords were put forward?” Steve asked.

Natasha chuckled dryly. “I was fighting to get oversight of the Enhanced and any Avengers-like operations under UN control and out of the shadows,” she said. “But when I realized you were bound and determined to give Thunderbolt Ross everything he need to stage a coup I cut my losses: Better to be on the run with you than under Ross’ thumb.” She shrugged, “I bet against Tony being able to hold him off on his own. But he stirred up enough concern to ensure that no other country would tolerate Ross having an international position of authority over Enhanced and in the States Tony set things up so that anyone going after the Spider-Kid had to go through him. SI and Rand Enterprises closed ranks to ensure that being Enhanced wasn’t criminalized in the US; The penalties are harsher if you commit crimes using powers but you still have to be convicted of committing a crime…. So Clint and Scott decided to try their luck. Clint’s not Enhanced and without Pym’s suit neither is Scott. They were small potatoes.”

“By that logic why didn’t you go back?” Steve asked.

“I signed the Accords then violated them before the ink was dry, I put myself on Ross’ shit list by letting you go and I literally stabbed King T’Challa in the back. Which left me a likely candidate for being made an example of,” Natasha said. “I don’t even have any cute kids to give teary-eyed interviews in my defense… And, to be honest, I’m more at home outside of the law. Tony was always the one who liked the spotlight, who liked hearing himself talk enough to put up with people demanding that he explain himself.”

Steve smiled a little, “I figure he made them regret it, talking circles around them until they didn’t know up from down. Between Rocket, Rhodes and Lang, maybe we don’t have a technical gap on the team but- We don’t have Tony either.”

Natasha gave him a melancholy smile. “I miss him too,” she said.

“Maybe we should have waited,” Steve said. “I heard Dr. Cho say he was stabilizing-“

“I miss him,” Natasha repeated. “But, After Ultron and Bruce taking off, after the Accords and us leaving Tony to deal with the fallout alone, I agree with Rhodes.”

 

* * *

 

 

A week later they stood on Thanos’ planet staring at neatly planted rows of an alien grain, guarded by an empty suit of armor hung up like a scarecrow. “You know, I was expecting giant statues and crowds of supplicants chanting his name in hopes of not being his next victim,” Clint remarked. “Not…”

“Swords beaten into plowshares?” Natasha asked.

“Doesn’t change anything,” Rocket said. “He doesn’t get to wipe out all my friends and then call it a good day and retire.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Steve said. “Thanos may have declared himself the victor, declared the war over and done, but WE’RE not done.” He strode boldly across the field, the other eight Avengers flanking him, and called “Thanos!!”

The titan ducked his head as he stepped out of his humble cottage. “You have come,” he said. “It not unexpected. It will be generations before the Universe accepts the necessity of my solution but hundreds of years from now history will remember me as a savior.”

“Pfft,” Rocket scoffed. “If we don’t all die from the fucking mess you made, in fifty years the Universe’s population will have recovered. Then what? You come out of retirement and slaughter us all again? Like we’re going to stand by and let that happen.”

“I accept that you require a target for your grief,” Thanos replied benevolently.

“You did this,” Steve accused. “You can undo it.”

Thanos raised his hand showing the melted remains of the Gauntlet fused to it. “Even If I were willing I could not,” he said. “All I can do is absorb your grief and rage.”

“Or you could die,” Okoye suggested and the battle was on.

Next to the titan Okoye was tiny but she was a flurry of motion, every strike delivered with calculate precision to put Thanos off balance.

He brushed her aside like a mosquito but Thor was there, Stormbreaker raised. Thanos deflected the blow aimed at his skull with his crippled arm then kicked Thor back. “Your blows are less than I remember,” he said.

“My strength was drawn from Asgard,” Thor said as he crouched and swung again. “My people suffered heavy losses in battle against my elder sister. Then you came and killed half of those remained immediately and left the rest without the resources to survive. Your speech of salvation is the ramblings of a mad-man seeking to justify his hunger for death. I am the last survivor of Asgard, my people were extinguished by your hands.” Lightning crackled in Thor’s eyes and in the sky. “But with the last of Asgards’ strength flowing through me, I will avenge them!” he cried as struck.

Thanos caught Thor’s blow on the gauntlet fused to his arm as he thrust his good hand deep into Thor’s chest. For a moment time frozen as Thanos’ hand closed around Thor’s heart. Then Asgard’s last king fell at the titan’s feet.

“It is regrettable,” Thanos said looking down at Thor’s body. “I seek to rebalance the Universe as a whole, before all life is rendered unsustainable by it’s over-abundance. But it must be dispassionate, random. None has the right to sit and judge one life as more worthy than another. I acknowledge that in taking half the Universe randomly some of the smaller populations may lose essential, irreplaceable individuals and fall all together. I regret that this is so but for the good of the many it cannot be turned from else all will perish.”

Steve flinched hearing the echo of his own words in Thanos’: ' _We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, next time… Maybe nobody gets saved.'_

But there was no time to reflect in the middle of a battle. An explosion knocked Thanos a half step back, Steve turned and saw Rocket with a gun nearly larger than he was balanced on his shoulder. War Machine hovered above the raccoon-like alien, smoke trailing from several spent rocket launchers. Okoye, Natasha and Clint attacked in unison and Steve leapt to join them as Bruce grabbed Thor’s arm and dragged his body out of the line of fire.

_“Why didn’t you bring the Hulk-Buster armor?”_ Steve had asked as they left Earth’s atmosphere.

_“Because I’m no Tony Stark. I repaired the armor after the Snap, I even practiced with it but I couldn’t make the sort of leaps I needed to. So… Don’t protect me. The Hulk will come out- Or he won’t. As long as I’m not green I’ll act as the team medic.”_

Steve’s feet slid back as he barely managed to stop Thanos from knocking Clint’s head off with his bare and bloody hand.

Okoye fell into sync with Natasha easily enough but Steve’s abilities were simultaneously too much like T’Challa’s and not enough the same. Without thinking she would predict his movements only to end up a half step off. It was dangerous and both Okoye and Steve quickly learned to keep their distance from one another but there was only so much that could be done when they were going after the same target.

There was something not right with Clint _‘Of course there’s something wrong. His whole family turned to dust before his eyes.’_ Clint was supposed to be perched above with his bow, his keen eye and his steady hand. Instead he was in the thick of it with a sword and every time Steve turned around he was blocking a blow Clint hadn’t seen or Natasha was pulling him out of the way of one.

Lang vanished the moment Okoye attacked. Steve could only hope his mission was going according to plan. _‘I never asked if he reverted to human-size if- Would we ever know if worst came to worst?’_

War Machine wasn’t Iron Man, the effortless synergy from the Battle of Manhattan just wasn't there. But during the year before the Accords, when they’d been teammates, Rhodes put in the time to learn the Avengers’ fighting style.

Rocket slid smoothly into the sniper slot on the team left empty by Clint and Bucky. Steve could tell almost instantly that Rocket didn’t have their range or uncanny accuracy but he made up for it by using his size as an advantage.

As the battle dragged on Steve couldn’t shake the feeling that Thanos was only toying with them, holding back until he decided on whether or not to kill them. Then Lang shot up to gargantuan proportions and booted the Titan away. “He doesn’t have the stones, we’re wasting our time here!” Lang exclaimed.

After a moment’s hesitation Steve ordered the team to regroup on the Guardians’ ship. “I think we should deal with Thanos before we leave the planet,” Steve said once everyone had caught their breath.

“Since we’re here,” Rhodes added with a careless irrelevancy that reminded Steve of Tony. Only Rhodes’ comment was delivered so dryly that Steve wasn’t sure if the man was agreeing with him or not. _‘If it’d been Tony, I’d have assumed he was making fun of me.’_

“I don’t care about Thanos,” Lang argued. “All I care about is getting my daughter back. If I have to go through the oversized grape to do it fine but if he really can’t undo the Snap then we’re just wasting our time here.”

“What if we do leave Thanos to his retirement while we figure out a way to undo what he spent hundreds of years working towards?” Natasha asked. “What’s to stop _him_ from undoing whatever we do?”

“It’s not my priority,” Lang replied. “So he rolls the dice again. We’re going to do everything in our power to stop him but if we fail… Well maybe Cassie grows up in scenario. I mean, I think I could forgive Thanos if he’d decided that I’m nothing but a drain on the universe’s resources and killed me but Cassie?” Scott shook his head violently.

“I lost three kids and a wife, and a kid I sworn I’d look after,” Clint said. “Maybe it’s enough for you to bring your kid back and take the fifty-fifty odds that she’s one of the survivors if Thanos gets his way a second time. This time I lost everyone. Maybe next time the odds are a little more in my favor, maybe only two or three of them turn to dust. But that’s not good enough. Thanos has to go down.”

“What am I, chopped liver?” Natasha asked giving Clint a nudge in the side.

Clint chuckled bitterly. “I love you but I don’t have the ego to claim that you’re mine to take care of,” he said.

“We watch each other’s back,” Natasha agreed. “Still, I felt like I was working overtime out there today?”

Clint glanced away.

“So are we staying to kick titan butt or chasing after some other cure for the Snap?” Rocket demanded.

“This is a waste of time,” Lang said.

Okoye frowned. “I wish I knew what Princess Shuri’s plan was.”

Steve made an executive decision. “Thanos is a threat that has to be dealt with. If we leave he’ll have time to dig in- Or even disappear. So we’ll deal with him now and then figure out how to reverse the Snap.”

“In the morning,” Rhodes suggested. “Today’s been a long haul, we should get some food, sleep and new tactics before taking up with Thanos again.”

“A moment for Thor would also be appropriate,” Bruce said.

“Yeah. Yeah, that’d be good,” Steve agreed quietly.

When night fell the Avengers watched silently as Rocket helped Bruce to burn Thor’s body. “It should have been a proper Viking Funeral,” Bruce said regretfully. “Not just a pyre.”

“Look!” Okoye exclaimed as a swirl of gold rose from the flames and vanished into the night sky. The others craned their heads back, staring until the last spark vanished.

At daybreak they went to face Thanos again.

 

* * *

 

 

Rocket and Rhodes brought out bigger explosives the second time around while Lang shrank, “See if you can attack him from inside,” Steve ordered then watched the three of them go.

As the time wore on Steve chafed at being forced to stand by helplessly but there was no way that Clint, Natasha or Okoye could survive the inferno raging around Thanos, even he couldn’t have waded into that and expected to come out unscathed. No one had ever determined the limits of the Hulk’s durability but these days when the Hulk couldn’t be guaranteed to come out on command… _‘Well, I’m not going to be the one to shove Bruce off a cliff to try to force his hand,’_ Steve thought.

“I need bigger booms,” Rocket complained.

“Pull back for today,” Rhodes ordered. “We’re not doing any good here.”

“No,” Steve countermanded. “You and Rocket fall back. Your explosions might have prevented Lang from getting close enough. We can hold him on the ground, give Lang a chance to do his thing.”

Once the four melee fighters closed with Thanos War Machine and Rocket switched to repulsors and a laser-gun respectively. They pinged Thanos where they could without risking friendly-fire incidents while Steve, Natasha, Okoye and Clint attacked with Natasha’s Bites, with spears, swords and even bare-handed as the shields Wakanda had provided Steve lacked the offensive capabilities of his original shield. _‘I wonder what Tony did with it. Why didn’t Rhodes return it before we left Earth?’_

Thanos threw a rock at War Machine with the projectile force, if not the explosive payload, of a missile. The armor fell from the sky only for a parachute to open up a moment later. _‘Of course, Tony was never going to let what happened at Leipzig happen again.’_

In the moment before Rhodes’ chute opened Clint made his move. He threw his sword aiming for the spot below Thanos’ raised arm with the aim he was famed for. For a human, even one wearing armor, the blow would have been a fatal one, but a sword thrown with all Clint’s strength behind it wasn’t enough to pierce Thanos’ skin. He followed the sword in, using the opening when Thanos reacted to the attack to get close. A thin knife appeared between Clint’s fingers for a second then with a twist of his wrist he flung it into Thanos’ eye.

The titan roared, he grabbed Clint by the neck and lifted him into the air. “Clint!” Natasha shouted. She threw herself onto the Thanos’ back, jammed both her Bites into his brachial plexus and overloaded them. Thanos’ hand to jerked open. As he dropped Clint he grabbed Natasha and hurled her to the ground.

“Go!” the Hulk roared. He scooped up Clint and Natasha and bounded away.

Okoye glanced at Steve, “Rhodes may need assistance if his armor is damaged,” she said and headed in the direction where they’d seen him go down. Steve followed after her. They found Rocket crouched over the armor, paws buried up the elbows in the wiring controlling the legs.

“How you Terrans invented anything with those oversized meat-hooks,” Rocket jeered.

“It’s called being a tool using species,” Rhodes shot back.

“Yeah well, I don’t see your tools today,” Rocket pointed out.

“Once I can pry open that compartment below the naval,” Rhodes said.

Okoye’s gaze fell on the indicated compartment. “Stark put a tool kit-”

Rhodes flushed. “Yes, Tony has a dirty mind and a perverse sense of humor,” he groused. “Tell me something I didn’t know.”

With Steve’s strength they were able to drag War Machine away while Okoye slung Rhodes over her shoulder. “This is humiliating,” he sighed. “Exactly why the military wanted to discharge me but Tony was adamant about not choosing another pilot so he had them over a barrel.”

“Wiser than I gave him credit for then,” Okoye said. “Losing your legs didn’t take away your knowledge or understanding. So your armor got broke, any of us could have broken a leg today.” She broke off with a frown and Steve realized that they didn’t know how hard Natasha or Clint had gone down yet.

It was dusk before the four of them made it back to the valley they’d been basing themselves out of. “Where the fuck is my ship?” Rocket demanded when they found a stack of crates waiting for them instead of the Milano.

Okoye set Rhodes down on one of the crates then set about prying a second open. “He left us most of the rations,” she reported.

“And what looks like everything in your lab that wasn’t bolted down,” Rhodes added leaning back to examine the equipment that had been hidden behind the stack of crates.

“Like I give a fuck,” Rocket swore.

“Who?” Steve asked. “What happened to the ship?”

Okoye gave him a cool look. “When Lang didn’t argue with your decision you assumed he was in agreement with it,” she said. “You were wrong.”

“Well, nothing we can do about it now,” Rocket sighed. “Maybe build a transponder and see if someone’ll come pick us up,” he added to himself as he started picking through the things Scott had left them.

Morning arrived with no sign of Bruce, Clint or Natasha. “I’m going out looking for them,” Steve declared.

“I will search as well,” Okoye decided.

Rhodes looked up from where he was working his damaged armor. “I’m not going to be much use ‘till I get this fixed,” he said. And Rocket didn’t bother to look up from his welding.

Okoye and Steve circled around Thanos’ homestead at a cautious distance until they found evidence of the Hulk’s passage. From there they followed the path of disturbance to a crude camp. “How about Tucson?” they heard Bruce say as they approached. “I’ve always liked the heat.”

“We’ll have a huge swimming pool,” Natasha said in a weak voice. “Big enough for the other guy to splash around in. And- and we’ll adopt, two kids. They’ll love him, treat him like a big teddy bear and he’ll never let anyone hurt us…”

“Yeah,” Bruce said. “Two kids, a boy and a girl. Get a house on the outskirts, where you start seeing some of the desert, not just city. But not too far out, so we can take the kids to museums and stuff all the time.”

“I’d like that,” Natasha sighed. She trailed off for a moment. “Sometimes I envied you,” she said quietly. “You were so afraid of what the other guy might do but you had this invincible guardian angel always in reach who would never let anyone hurt you.”

“So you wanted to seduce me, to get him to protect you too,” Bruce sighed.

“Can you blame me?” Natasha asked.

“No,” Bruce said glancing up at the sound of Steve and Okoye’s approach. “Looks like they found us,” he said.

“Go say hi,” Natasha ordered, waving him away without rising from where she lay.

Bruce stood up, the remnants of his pants knotted around his waist. Without saying a word he led Steve and Okoye a short distance from the camp. Steve gasped when he saw Clint’s body laid out at the foot of a cliff. “He was gone when I came back to myself,” Bruce said. “A broken neck. Natasha’s bleeding internally, there’s a lot of organ damage. She’ll probably go in the next few hours. Trying to move her would only speed it up. I think getting her back to the ship is out.”

“It’s gone anyway,” Okoye reported. “Even if they had the equipment to save her.”

Bruce nodded in resignation. “You should probably go, say your goodbyes,” he told Steve. “Don’t mention Clint, she knows but she’s pretending she doesn’t.”

Natasha passed around mid-day. They laid her body out beside Clint’s and collapsed the some of the cliff over them to make a crude carin.

 

* * *

 

 

“So do we keep going?” Rhodes asked.

“Nothing better to do while we wait for someone to notice our S.O.S.,” Rocket said. “We might get lucky,” he shrugged carelessly, “or we might get dead. No guarantees that anyone will come even if they do get our signal.”

“Bruce, is the Hulk back in action?” Steve asked.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Bruce said. “Clint and Natasha were important to him, to us, once. He had to try to save them. We’re not sure if Thanos broke Clint’s neck trying to kill him or if Hulk did it trying to save him.”

“Does anything we can do matter?” Okoye asked.

“It matters,” Steve said firmly. “Once they make you run you’ll never be able to stop.”

“Before we talk about running or not running, how about I get myself standing,” Rhodes said.

He continued making similar statements over the next few days while he and Rocket dug through everything Lang had left behind with occasional input from Bruce.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Steve asked on the fourth day, walking over to where Rhodes sat on a hovering dolly Rocket had found for him.

“Well I’m not Tony but I am a rocket scientist,” Rhodes said, an edge to his tone. “I’d have to be an idiot to go into the field without any knowledge of the equipment I depend on. Look, I can get War Machine back in the air but it’s going to take a little time given that my supply of spares literally were dug out of an alien junkyard.”

“Are you even following me anymore?” Steve found himself asking.

Rhodes swiveled around to look up at Steve. “If I thought you were throwing our lives away for nothing more than your own stubborn pride, I wouldn’t dick around about saying so. Being a soldier doesn’t mean turning your mind and moral sense off, I’ve got an obligation NOT to follow bad orders. Beyond that, if we were part of the same command chain, I’d outrank you. But since I was only on loan to the Avengers from the US military...”

“You believe we can beat Thanos?” Steve asked.

“I believe we have to try,” Rhodes said. “Right now, when he thinks he’s won, Thanos seems happy enough to play farmer or- Or hell, letting us attack him, not coming after us when we’re on the ropes- The asshole’s playing the martyr. But I trust that someone out there- Lang or Tony or Shuri or someone equally determined on some planet somewhere out there that we’ve never even heard of- Someone is going to reverse the Snap. And when that happens? This should sound familiar to you: Thanos believes he’s right. He’s gone so far down the rabbit hole of believing he’s right that he won’t, can’t hear any conflicting opinions; The whole Universe could tell him that he’s wrong- He could have dozens like Thor coming to him and telling him how he didn’t save their people, that he destroyed them. But Thanos, he KNOWS he’s right, there’s nothing going to dissuade him of that. So he’s not going to stay on the sidelines once the Snap’s been reversed. If he’s alive he’s going to try it again. He’s not going to stop. Not unless we make him.”

It wasn’t the next time they confronted Thanos, or even the time after that but inevitably it happened. Steve took a hard blow and went down. Bruce, the Hulk, hesitated after his failure to save Clint and Natasha. Rocket and Rhodes had been keeping their distances and couldn’t get there fast enough. Okoye, for all her skill, was not Enhanced or equipped with head-to-toe Vibranium armor. She took the next hit from Thanos. Steve’s healing factor meant he woke up a few hours later. Okoye didn’t have Enhanced healing, she didn’t wake up.

The battle after that showed that without Okoye backing him Steve couldn’t get a solid hit on Thanos. The titan was stronger, bigger, faster and simply better. Steve had an innate grasp of tactics and combat that, combined with the physical Enhancements of the Serum, had made him an unstoppable force on Earth’s battlefields. But Thanos had all of Steve’s strengths forged and honed by eons of experience, HE had been an unstoppable force on battlefields across the Universe long before humans invented the spear.

“Tony always got a lot of shit about his ability to make weapons; that whole ‘Merchant of Death’ bullshit,” Rhodes said one evening as he and Rocket carefully opened up War Machine’s chest plate to get to the Arc Reactor. “And after Ultron, the whole team was right there with the media. Going on about how even when Tony tried to do good all he could create was death… Then the Snap happened and everyone was singing a different tune. Everyone shouting about how if Tony hadn’t turned his back on the military, if he’d mass-produced the Iron Man tech then the Earth would have stood a chance when Thanos came. People asked why didn’t the Earth have orbit defense capabilities, because if Tony had set his mind to it… A hundred other ideas that all boiled down to why didn’t Tony do more? Why didn’t he foresee something like Thanos and prepare for it?” Rhodes tossed Steve and Bruce a dark look, “Except we know that he did, just no one was willing to listen.”

“That’s sentients for you,” Rocket snorted. “Hey Blondie, why don’t you make yourself useful and drag Stormbreaker over here!”

“Why do you want Stormbreaker?” Bruce asked glancing up from his meditation, his eyes toxic green.

“It’s the strongest weapon we’ve got and it doesn’t have the Hammer’s worthiness clause,” Rhodes explained.

“It channeled and magnified Thor’s powers,” Rocket added. He nodded toward Rhodes, “We were thinking maybe we could hook it up to the Space-Stone knock-off that fuels his armor.”

“Knock-off?” Rhodes sounded outraged.

“The real deal survived the Big Bang, of course that’s a knock-off… By comparison.” Rocket shrugged, “It’s also the only thing we’ve got that stands half a chance of taking Nutsack-chin down.”

 

* * *

 

A thick cable, sparking with power, wound it’s way from War Machine’s chest plate to the ax he wielded as he followed Captain America into battle. His missiles had long since been spent. Except for the repulsors the rest of his ranged weaponry had been stripped from the armor and transferred to Rocket since their plan wouldn’t put him in a position to use it. As always Bruce hung back why the remains of the team stormed Thanos’ humble cottage.

Rocket announced them by firing a laser through the wall.

“You could wait for someone to rescue you,” Thanos said blandly as he stepped outside.

Steve straightened his spine and squared his shoulders, “You can’t make us run, Thanos,” he declared as he forced down the memory of hundreds of hopeless back-alley brawls.

“What I have done will not be undone. This IS the universe you now inhabit. Your energy would be better spent accepting that. But if you cannot, if you persist in clinging to a past that had no future then I must remove you before you can become an obstacle to the rise of the new universe that I have laid the foundations for,” Thanos said gravely. All Steve heard was, _‘I can do this all day.’_

He charged Thanos, fists clenched. At the last moment he feinted to the side, grabbed Thanos’ massive arm and twisted it behind the titan to lay him open for Rhodes. Thanos threw Steve off like he was a chihuahua and managed to get an arm up to block the sparking, blue-edged ax before it split his skull open. Despite obvious unfamiliarity with the weapon, Rhodes managed to swing Stormbreaker around for a second, lower, strike.

Thanos caught the haft of the ax just below the head and yanked, pulling Rhodes off balance. Before Rhodes could recover Thanos grabbed War Machine’s helmet between his hands and twisted. The crunch of metal couldn’t completely obscure the sound of Rhodes’ neck snapping. The gunmetal grey armor crashed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

After that it all blurred together for Steve. Fighting Thanos over and over again, falling and waking up in some poor little camp with Bruce tending his injuries and Rocket cleaning his guns. They ran out of ammo, would have run out of food except the Hulk took to bringing back animal carcasses as well as retrieving Steve when he fell in battle. Steve began to believe that the serum had made him immortal, no matter what injuries he suffered at Thanos’ hands he was always healed and ready to fight again in a matter of hours or days, _‘Or maybe this is Purgatory, fighting a fight I can’t win over and over again ‘til I’ve paid for my sins.’_

Then, suddenly, Rocket was cheering and laughing maniacally. A motley assortment of spaceships were crowding the skies above them. “The Ravagers! The Nova Corps! Is that a Sovereign Ship? Fuck me, Kree and Skrull ships in the same orbit and not shooting at each other, now if that’s not a sign of the apocalypse I don’t know what is!”

A portal opened up next to the three of them. “The view’s much more congenial on this side,” Tony called over Wong’s shoulder.

Steve gaped at Tony’s unnatural Arc Reactor-blue eyes but Rocket didn’t hesitate to leap through and the Hulk dragged Steve along after him. On the other side of the portal they found themselves on the command deck of the lead ship, along with Nebula, Shuri and a blonde woman with a military bearing whom Steve had never seen before.

“Open fire,” the blond ordered as soon as Wong closed the portal.

On the view screen Steve watched as Thanos was engulfed in wave after wave of explosions.

“Data collection proceeding as planned?” the blonde asked.

“Aye, Aye Captain. We’re getting the bastard’s demise in 70mm IMAX,” Tony replied with a smirk.

The bombardment lasted for long minutes. “I think we’ve softened him up,” Shuri announced.

“Phase two, prepare to disembark!” the blonde ordered.

“You coming?” Tony asked as he followed the blonde out.

It took Steve a moment to realize Tony was addressing them then he had to hurry to catch up. “We’ll attack in waves,” Tony said, talking to a point slightly behind Steve’s shoulder. “Keep him constantly facing fresh fighters but we don’t want to get in each other’s way. Shuri‘s manning the sensors and calling the shots: When she says go you go. When she says fall back you fall back.”

“What’s going on? Who are all these people?” Steve asked.

“Well,” Tony said. “Kill half the Galaxy and everyone left hates your guts. After you guys took off, I woke up, Carol- That’d be our illustrious leader, Captain Marvel. -Showed up with the means to send out a message. So we did, an open invitation: ‘Anybody want in on killing Thanos?’” He nodded towards the packed sky. “Got quite the turn out.”

As the battle progressed Steve estimated that each team got about two minutes on then two hours off. Two hours watching the other teams and planning their next attempt. It took most of a day before Thanos fell. “Okay, that’s it for the dress rehearsal,” Tony’s voice boomed across the battlefield.

“Captains, assemble on my ship in twenty cycles,” Captain Marvel ordered.

“Showers, fresh clothes, food and bunks this way,” Tony said, gesturing like a tour guide as he led them back into Marvel’s ship. “Twenty cycles translates to twelve hours. I’ll collect you in time for the biggest debrief in the history of the Galaxy.”

Tony was as good as his word and half a day later Steve found himself listening in bemusement along with over a hundred beings packed into the cargo bay of the ship. At the front of the room Shuri stood on a makeshift stage and went over the data, carefully detailing which attacks were most effective against Thanos and when they’d been wasting their effort.

“Thanos is dead,” Steve finally said, shouting over the din of the crowd to be heard. “What do we gain by all this?”

“It took Thanos all six Infinity Stones to kill half the Universe,” Shuri said. “But it will only take us one to reverse it.”

Captain Marvel stepped up on the stage along with Tony and Wong. “Princess Shuri and M’Baku of the Terran country Wakanda hunted down and retrieved the Time Stone. M’Baku gave his life to retrieve it,” she paused for a moment before continuing. “Nebula, Tony Stark and the sorcerer Wong recreated the Eye of Agamotto. The artifact which, for centuries, has enabled the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj to control the Time Stone.”

Wong produced an amulet holding a glowing green gem. “The spell will only send our spirits backwards, not our bodies. I am uncertain how far the effect will extend so we have gathered all the leaders together.”

“Now we know how to fight Thanos effectively,” Captain Marvel resumed. “Take this time that we’ve stolen from fate to prepare your people for the battle to come.” She gestured for Tony to step forward. “And when Terra’s Iron Man gives the signal, be ready to assemble.”

“Tony?” Steve asked with an expression of disbelief. A few of those standing closest to him glanced at Steve curiously but most of the room remained focused on the stage.

“We know what we have to do,” Captain Marvel continued. “We need to fight -and win- this battle before Thanos collects the Infinity Stones. He’ll have armies at his disposal, he’ll have two working hands. But we have knowledge, we have determination, we have no other choice. Because Thanos is a mad man. His ‘cure’ has unleashed unprecedented chaos on the galaxy. The Snap is a disaster that we will not recover from. It cannot be allowed to happen. So, there’s no point in wasting anymore time. Wong, if you’ll do the honors?”

Wong nodded and raised the Amulet. It opened to reveal the Time Stone. The last thing Steve saw was the sorcerer crumbling to ash as the spell claimed it’s toll from him.

 

* * *

 

 

Steve opened his eyes to see S.H.I.E.L.D.’s battered Helicarrier falling away as the Quinjet took off. Iron Man was already gone, flying ahead to the tower to confront Loki. Natasha and Clint were sitting in front of him. The Battle of Manhattan was about to begin.

There was nothing Steve could think to differently to change the battle, to turn it into an offensive against Thanos. It was all they could do to keep from being overrun. _‘After the battle I’ll talk with Bruce and Tony, figure out how to explain to the rest of the team about what we know,’_ Steve thought.

When the missile was fired Steve watched as Tony redirected it through the wormhole. He tried to remember the exact time he’d held off last time before closing the portal then gave the order. Then he waited, waited for Tony to fall back to Earth, waited for the Hulk to catch him, waited but nothing happened. The portal was gone and so was Tony Stark.


	4. Fancy Meeting In a Place Like This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The “Guardians of the Galaxy” timeline is fairly detached from the rest of the Marvel Universe and a little weird. Even by the end of GoG we really hadn’t seen much rebellion from Nebula but supposedly only six months later, when Vol 2 begins, she’s committed to Thanos’ downfall. And Ego’s seeds going all huge supposedly happens in 2014 but in 2015 when Tony’s trying to convince the other Avengers that there is a present threat to the Earth he doesn’t mention the mysterious blue goo. So anyways. I feel no hesitation at changing the GoG timeline to suit myself. (Besides Marvel can’t figure out if Tony was 21 when his parents died or if he turned 21 after his parents died, timelines aren’t exactly their strong suit).
> 
> So for this story Vol. 1 occurs before “Avengers” and in the original timeline Vol. 2 occurred after “Age of Ultron”. Beyond the Battle of Xander happening before the Battle of Manhattan, exact timing isn’t really that important. The only real difficulty is The Collector has to contract Gamora about acquiring the Orb before Loki sends the Aether to him to prevent Asgard from holding two Infinity Stones… But then I don’t really remember anything in the story that requires the Collector to get the Aether first, he could just as easily fail to get the Orb then have the Aether fall into his lap rather than getting the Aether and then deciding to go after the Orb.

**~ Tony ~**

Tony released the nuke and watched as it plowed into the Chitauri’s lead ship and detonated triggering a chain reaction that consumed several other ships. He remembered the terror he’d felt the last time he’d been here, cut off from everyone and certain that he was about to die. He remembered finding peace six years later surrounded by those same stars and dying once again but not alone.

He smiled when he felt a tug pulling him away from the rapidly closing portal.

When he and Nebula set their modified, hastily cobbled together jump-engine to Earth’s coordinates they’d had no idea if they’d survive the jump. Tony remembered looking out at the stars and recording his farewells in case he didn’t make it.

He’d recorded messages this time as well, as many as he could manage while fighting the Battle of Manhattan.

The tractor-beam pulled Tony to the side of a small, four-winged ship with a bulbous canopy. Hastily he pulled himself into the waiting load-lock and sighed with relief as the Oxygen and pressure levels rose steadily. After a few minutes the inner door cycled open. “What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” he asked as dropped heavily into the empty chair beside Nebula.

“You’re late,” she said shortly.

Tony spread his hands helplessly. “I was supposed to have a couple months to put my affairs in order before Reindeer Games showed up, instead the Invasion was already in progress… I’m sure Wong did his best. He warned us that he didn’t have Strange’s aptitude with the Time Stone.” Tony hesitated then added, “I wish I’d had time to check on past-him.”

“He was willing to pay the cost to give us this chance,” Nebula said. “Even without knowing exactly what that cost would be. If you wish to honor his sacrifice focus on future. We have already determined that Terra’s possible contributions to the battle against Thanos would be of negligible impact.”

“Excluding myself of course,” Tony replied with a smirk.

Nebula’s eyes flickered to the Arc Reactor set in the armor’s chest. “Yes,” she agreed. “You are remarkable… For a Terran. Better than my sister’s idiot anyway.”

“I’m flattered, truly flattered. And I’m definitely telling him that the next time I see him.” Tony said as he popped his helmet off. “I wasn’t sure you’d have time to get here,” he admitted as he turned to Nebula. “I mean given my arrival time…” He trailed off staring at his own reflection in the window behind her. Tony’s eyes, his blue eyes, widened in shock.

“I have been here long enough to return to Thanos and take my punishment for failing him on Xander,” Nebula said bitterly. “It was not too challenging to arrange for my demotion put me in Loki’s service.”

Tony leaned over to get a better look at himself. Nebula frowned when it put him practically in her lap. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

“That’s… Not according to plan,” Tony muttered pointing to the reflection of Tesseract-blue eyes set in his face. Then he took a deep, steadying breath. His hand came up to his chest in surprise and he took another breath, holding it for a long moment. “Okay, as deviations go, it could be worse. I supposed. Not expected but… It could be worse.”

“What?” Nebula demanded.

“It was only our minds that were supposed to go back,” Tony said. He pointed to his eyes, “But I didn’t have that six years ago… Or now I guess. Only I do, the changes from six years from now, I still have them.”

Nebula popped off her hand and examined a small number engraved on the inner surface of the prosthetic. “I am forced to upgrade myself often, this is the proper limb for this time period.”

“So I’m just special,” Tony sighed. “That’s just great. Really great. The Universe apparently hates me. So? Shall we get started?”

“Yes,” Nebula hissed. “If I had to pretend I didn’t want to rip that bastard’s throat out for even one more audience…”

As the Chitauri armada dissolved into confusion, searching for the source of the completely unexpected attack, Nebula set the coordinates for their first jump.

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

There was no shawarma after the Battle of Manhattan. No exhausted but companionable meal crowded around the only standing table in a half destroyed restaurant. There was no one to suggest it. No one to drag them into the shop on their way to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and slap enough money on to the counter to cover a significant fraction of the owner’s rebuilding costs. No one to walk over to the corner were they’d secured Loki and drop a basket of food in his lap, _“It’s not the drink I promised but what can you do?”_ Tony had excused himself with a shrug.

Without Tony no one was in the mood for victory celebrations.

After Loki was secured the Hulk transformed back into Bruce. He absently reached for his missing glasses as he looked from Steve to Thor, “I’m a little underdressed for S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Bruce declared.

_‘No Tony to insist he had clothes that would fit Bruce laying around somewhere. No Tony to give Bruce the confidence to walk back into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s reach after the Hulk nearly brought down a Helicarrier. No Tony. Did I screw up?’_ Steve thought.

Bruce glanced at Steve significantly. “We’ll catch-up later?” he suggested. “And Thor? The next time you think your brother’s dead… Check his pulse.”

Loki, battered and defeated, looked up from where he sat to frown at Bruce.

“Er- yes?” Thor agreed, confusion filling his voice.

The biophysist waved to them then turned and wandered deeper into the tower. Natasha and Clint shared a puzzled look at his easy familiarity with Tony’s building but didn’t say anything.

“We should get Loki into custody,” Steve said. “And secure the Tesseract. Actually Thor, you should take the scepter with you too, it doesn’t seem like something that should be left lying around Earth.”

“We don’t really have the authority to decide something like that Captain,” Natasha cautioned. “Thor might have been sent to collect the Tesseract but the WSC doesn’t answer to Odin.”

“I should like to know who this W-S-C does answer to,” Thor declared. “For it was their lack of faith that cost us a brother-in-arms this day.”

Clint pointed at Loki with his loaded crossbow, “I put the blame somewhere a bit closer.”

_‘Did I close the portal too soon?’_ Steve wondered. _‘I asked Tony if Coulson was the first time he’d ever lost a soldier, like the War had harden me to that sort of loss, but the truth was Bucky was the only one of the Howlies I’d lost and- And I didn’t make- couldn’t have made- the call to give him up. Ordering Natasha to close the portal was the first time I’d ever had to make a call like that. I was certain that moment was engraved in my memories but did I mess up? Did I kill Tony?’_

Warily Loki shifted closer to Thor. “Perhaps it would be best if we departed without delay,” Thor said.

“You’ll need to come to an agreement with Fury before taking anything,” Natasha said.

“Given the weapons we know S.H.I.E.L.D. was making,” Steve said. “I think it’s better that the Tesseract go back where it belongs.”

“Does he have any proof of ownership?” Natasha asked innocently.

Steve wondered what would happen if he simply demanded that Thor take the Tesseract, Loki and the scepter and just leave- _‘But would that tear apart the team now? Practically before it forms? Wasn’t it hunting the scepter that truly brought us together? And what becomes of Wanda without the scepter falling into HYDRA’s hands?’_

He pictured the Avengers, strong and unified, opposing Thanos. _‘We’ll know better than to create Ultron this time. Without Ultron, no Sokovia Accords.’_ In his mind’s eye he saw his team: Bucky and Sam, Natasha and Clint, Wanda, Vision and Pietro, Bruce and Thor, Rhodes and Tony standing alongside T’Challa and his warriors. _‘We’ll round up Scott and that Spider-Kid. Rocket will bring his team. We’ll find Wong’s sorcerers…’_ Then Steve’s expression crumbled as it hit him, _‘No Tony, never again. No Tony, no Vision. Is it my fault?’_

He didn’t say more, just let the chips fall. They escorted Loki to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and secured him in one of their cells, weighed down with chains and a muzzle that Thor assured them were necessary to contain the mage, not cruel and usual, as had happened before. Steve left Thor and Fury to argue their respective claims to Loki, the Tesseract and the scepter. Steve hadn’t really been involved last time but he remembered that Tony had inserted himself into the negotiations and- _‘Should I get involved? Should I fill Tony’s place? But I don’t even know what he said. Should I try to make sure it happens like it did before? Do we need the hunt for the scepter to become a team? But I’ve already argued that Thor should take all three-’_

Steve slept poorly that night, plagued by confused images of Tony disappearing into the portal, Bucky falling from the train and both of them accusing him of letting them die. The next morning, when Steve heard that the scepter had gone missing from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s custody, he didn’t know whether be relieved or not.

A few hours later the Avengers, less Tony and Bruce, assembled to witness Thor’s return to Asgard with Loki in custody. Fury and Maria Hill made a bit of a show of safely turning the Tesseract over to Thor. “Lowering the portcullis after the enemy is within your walls?” the Thunderer muttered, still clearly unhappy about the missing scepter.

“You can’t win them all,” Fury said without a flicker of expression to betray whether the scepter had been stolen or was only ‘lost’ for so long as it took Thor to get off the planet.

Thor accepted the the Tesseract then turned to the other Avengers, “It was an honor to fight alongside Midgard’s greatest champions. And I apologize for the losses my brother inflicted on your people.”

“Don’t be a stranger,” Natasha replied.

Thor nodded and held out the Tesseract to Loki who reluctantly grasped an end and then, in a flash of light, they were gone. A moment later a flashy red sports car skidded to a stop at the edge of the square. Bruce Banner tumbled out of the passenger and ran up. “I just missed Thor didn’t I?” he sighed when he saw the group.

“What brings you out Dr. Banner?” Fury asked.

“Tony left messages,” Bruce explained. “For everyone here actually, plus Thor.”

Fury’s eyes flickered around the group, “All of us?” he asked.

“Joint message for, and I quote, ‘Fury plus minions: Romanoff, Barton and Hill,” Bruce replied. “But yeah. J.A.R.V.I.S. will play them for you at the Tower.”

“Something about him is… off,” Natasha said as she watched Bruce get back into Tony’s car and drive away, likely with Happy Hogan at the wheel.

“Banner isn’t the only thing,” Fury observed. “Not two hours before flying into that portal, Tony Stark was telling us how he’d ‘cut the wire’ but now we’re hearing he left a bunch of ‘in the event of my death’ messages?”

“Coulson’s death hit him hard,” Steve offered.

“Not like we’re going to get answers standing around here,” Clint said. He started walking toward the car he and Natasha had arrived in. “Let’s hear what the man had to say.”

Steve nodded sharply and headed toward his motorbike. As he wove through the cratered streets surrounding the Tower where the battle against the Chitauri had been concentrated Steve felt something bubbled up in the back of his mind: Hope. _‘Tony knew he’d make it back through that portal… Unless he’d never planned on making it back this time. Maybe he’s okay, out there somewhere.’_

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“We missed the guy with the hammer?” Happy asked unenthusiastically as Bruce got back in the car.

“Thor’s already returned to Asgard with Loki,” Bruce confirmed. “But everyone else was conveniently gathered. They’ll be headed to the Tower shortly… I suppose we could deliver Thor’s message to Dr. Foster, if there was anyone on Earth he was going to sneak in visit to it would be her.”

Happy’s grunt of assent was the definition of disinterest.

Their drive back to the Tower was silent but the back of Bruce’s neck prickled from the wary, sidelong looks Tony’s driver was sending him. From before, Bruce knew it wasn’t entirely, or even mostly the Hulk that made the man wary; Tony’s friends were always cautious when Tony brought someone new home with him. Bruce remembered initially thinking that they were worried about being displaced before he realized that their concern was for Tony.

When Tony liked someone he liked to share with them: His wealth. His talents. His opinions- All of which led to assumptions that Tony was arrogant, showing off or trying to buy friends but equally frequently it led to Tony being taken advantage of by people whom he liked a lot more than they liked him in return. Tony also liked to share his friends; while Tony was the common denominator between Rhodes, Pepper and Happy, they all had comfortable relationships with one another.

Bruce remembered Tony’s failed efforts to fold the three of them into the Avengers’ social circle. Rhodes had been the most amenable but still regularly sighted his military career and ‘conflict of interest or the appearance thereof’ while maintaining a distance. Pepper had routinely insisted that she was busy with SI, going as far as moving SI’s corporate headquarters back to California after the Avengers moved into the Tower. But of the three, Happy had been the least circumspect with his opinions.

Bruce remembered overhearing Happy decline one of Tony’s invitations saying, _“I don’t belong with people like them. And neither do you, Tony.”_ Bruce had expected Tony to take insult at the implication that he wasn’t good enough for the Avengers but Tony had heard something different. _“Come on, the collective stick up their ass is a public appearances thing. Give them a chance,”_ Tony had said. _“I’ve seen ‘em with you, I’ve seen enough,”_ Happy had stated, ending the discussion.

_‘I’m not welcome here. I should head for Seoul after this over,’_ Bruce thought. _‘See if I can connect with Dr. Cho. She might not be able to deactivate Extremis on her own- Without Tony, there’s no guarantee that anyone will even think to call her in. I might need to offer our services.’_

Happy parked in the garage under the Tower. Bruce had to stop himself from immediately heading toward the private penthouse elevator which, in the original timeline, would have been modified in the next year to service all the Avengers’ floors.

When they exited at the penthouse the crater from the Hulk’s unforgiving correction of Loki’s high opinion of himself was a prominent feature in the room, as was the wind whistling through the broken window. _‘Wonder when the change happened for Tony,’_ Bruce thought as Happy directed him to a staircase that took them down a level.

They found Pepper and Rhodes waiting for them in a barren looking conference room. “We’ve seen our messages.” Pepper said as she fixed Bruce with coolly appraising stare that made him want to shrink in on himself. “Tony’s not dead,” she added almost challengingly.

“I’d hoped as much,” Bruce said. Before he could say anything more the building’s main elevator disgorged Fury, Romanoff, Barton, Hill and Captain Rogers.

“Pepper, I’m sorry about Tony,” Natasha said walking over to lay a sympathetic hand on Pepper’s shoulder. “If it’s any comfort to you, he saved us all.”

“Tony’s not dead,” Pepper repeated shrugging off the offered comfort.

“When we came in, the Lobby seemed unusually busy,” Barton commented in an awkward attempt to change the subject. “Especially considering…”

“In spite of Loki, thanks to the Arc Reactor, we have power,” Pepper said bitterly. “Most of Manhattan doesn’t right now. I threw open the Tower to anyone who needed shelter, we’re in the process of hauling over equipment from Metro-General to get a tirage and aid station at the epicenter of the Invasion… SI can put off moving our headquarters from California for another six to eight months… After the Invasion some of our people are reluctant to relocate anyway.”

“I should go offer my services,” Bruce said. He smiled self-effacingly. “I might have a little more experience with… Post-battle working conditions than most of the staff at Metro-General.”

With a slight warming in her eyes, Pepper gestured to one of the smaller rooms across the hall. “Listen to Tony’s message first,” she suggested.

Then she turned to Happy and Steve, “You both have individual messages as well.” She handed a data stick to Fury, “Tony requested that you get a copy of this data along with his message to S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Bruce nodded his thanks. Once he’d closed the door behind him J.A.R.V.I.S. asked, “Shall I begin?”

A moment later the sounds of the previous day’s battle filled the room. “Bruce,” Tony said over the whine of repulsor fire. “Last time I gave you a lab. This time I’m telling you make use of my PR department. They’ll have a blast turning the Green Guy into everyone’s favorite Avenger and he deserves it. Pepper’s got an unexpected opening in the R&D department that I think you’ll rock. And as a bonus, putting in a long lost scientific genius in will give the shareholders something else to talk about, besides my abrupt departure. Wins all around. Your friend Ross needs to go down, now, before some lunatic decides to make him Secretary of State and you’re nominated. Once the Hulk is a household name you can start dishing the real dirt on Ross. Make sure he gets a nice room at Leavenworth would you? Oh and keep an eye on Pepper, Happy and Rhodey for me when the shit hits the fan next Christmas.”

Bruce glanced up at the ceiling, “J.A.R.V.I.S., you recorded all of Tony’s messages. Can I ask what you gleaned from them?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. allowed a pause before replying and Bruce knew that the AI did it simply to convey that he had seriously considered the request. “Mr. Stark’s messages, which he began recording shortly after being tossed from the top of his Tower, repeatedly reference concerns about previously undreamt of future events,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “In his messages to Ms. Potts, Colonel Rhodes, Mr. Hogan, Mr. Odinson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. contingent he is circumspect about these concerns. With yourself and Captain Rogers he is still cryptic but clearly he expects that you, also, have knowledge of events to come, neither you nor Captain Rogers expressed confusion at this.”

“And this leads you to conclude?” Bruce prompted.

“While Loki’s scepter makes the possibility of a shared delusion more probable I would expect Director Fury, Agent Romanoff, Mr. Odinson and perhaps Agent Barton to be included in this delusion as you all came into proximity with the scepter. Their exclusion leads me to conclude that the three of you gained- Or perhaps it would be more precise to say that your future-selves sent you knowledge of what is to come.”

“You don’t think that’s… crazy?” Bruce asked tentatively.

“I am a rational being,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “Based on the data available to me, that is the most reasonable conclusion and thus must be treated as truth… Unless new and contradictory evidence presents itself.”

“So Tony introduced to you to Sherlock Holmes?” Bruce asked with a small grin.

“It is a reasonable conclusion,” J.A.R.V.I.S. agreed. Then he added, “Captain Rogers is leaving the building, quite precipitously I might add.”

Several hours later, after Pepper had confirmed Tony’s offer of a job, Bruce’s phone rang. “Steve, I thought we had some things to discuss,” he said mildly.

“There’s something I need to take care of first,” Steve said. “There’s plenty of time before I need to deal with HYDRA’s resurgence.”

In the background Bruce heard, “Last boarding call: Flight 4671, departing for Moscow.”

“That’s my flight. Just- Don’t build Ultron,” Steve said then hung up.

Bruce felt a deep grumble in the back of his mind as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “You’re right,” he sighed. “He’s not going to be much help is he?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm switching to a three part perspective: Tony in Space, Bruce trying to fill in for Tony on Earth and Steve doing his thing.


	5. So it Starts

**~ Steve ~**

“You don’t like the Accords, fine,” Tony’s recorded voice declared. “Then get in front of them. When S.H.I.E.L.D. falls- The message I left Fury and the Spy Twins should take care of that. Or maybe a little forewarning and they’ll deal with their infestation without burning the house down. Even if they do you go to the UN. You don’t want the Avengers under S.H.I.E.L.D., their methods are so fucked up they can’t tell when HYDRA’s hijacking their missions. And any single government is going to have those agenda-issues that get you so heated up but the UN is not going to use the Avengers as an attack dog for the simple reason that the US, China and Russia have a hell of time agreeing on who the enemy is. So go to the UN and YOU write the Accords, write them to be the way they should be.”

Steve frowned. _‘The Accords? That’s what Tony wants to talk to me about after all this time?'_

In the background Tony’s message continued to play.

_‘After everything that’s happened? When we might never see each other again? Doesn’t he realize that the Accords were forgotten when Thanos’ ship first appeared in the sky over New York?’_ Steve shook his head, _‘I guess Tony’s ego just won’t let him recognize when he’s got the wrong end of a thing. I was right to keep the information about Bucky from him- Bucky!’_

The information Natasha had compiled on the Winter Soldier had included HYDRA bases where he’d been held. When Steve hadn’t been able to find Bucky by searching the places his old friend would go, he had started worrying that HYDRA had recaptured him. They’d raided all three of the bases Bucky had been held at in the the twenty first century. It was 2012, Steve knew where Bucky was, where he’d be for at least a few months before he was handed off to Pierce’s faction.

Everything Steve owned was in the duffle bag he’d brought with him to Helicarrier and he’d had it with him when they went to see Thor off. Practically the next thing Steve knew he was signing over most of the backpay S.H.I.E.L.D. had put in the bank account they set up for him in exchange for the next available plane to Eastern Europe. _‘From there, I’ll walk if I have to.’_

Steve remembered one morning shortly after he’d come to live at the Tower. Tony had found him in the kitchen, balancing his bank book and had realized at a glance that Steve hadn’t received the interest owed him. A few weeks later Steve’s bank account swelled considerably, Tony never bothered Steve with the details of how he’d dealt with the oversight or how the mistake had happened in the first place. _‘I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to miss that money more this time around,’_ Steve thought as he reluctantly checked his shield. _‘If I told Fury about the problem, I’m sure he’d see that it got fixed but I don’t have time. Not if I’m going to get to Bucky before they move him.’_

Sitting in the airport, waiting for his plane to arrive, the rest of Tony’s message slowly percolated through Steve’s consciousness. _“The Avengers put themselves above the law, deny it if you like, cite our good intentions but it’s the truth. Other countries have a right to control their borders, we have ignored that. Governments, people have a right to have a say in how we impact their lives, and we do impact their lives, not always in a good way. We don’t get to go in and declare that things would have been worse without our involvement. We’re biased as hell and no one’s going to accept it. We need the Accords, we need an agreement, upfront, with the public about how things are going to be handled when missions go bad, because they will, because we’re human and even with the best of intentions we make mistakes.”_

_‘He’s wrong,’_ Steve thought. _‘Everything was fine before Ultron.’_ He took out his phone and dialed Bruce’s number.

 

* * *

 

 

**~ Bruce ~**

Hulk grumbled to himself as he stalked up Manhattan’s battle scarred streets until he found a rescue worker who didn’t hide the moment they noticed him. “Hulk help,” the behemoth declared. “Puny Banner helps, Hulk helps better.”

The man in the hard hat hesitated then pointed to the ruins of building that had collapsed across the road. “Can you help us clear that? There are people trapped further in and we can’t get the equipment we need in to get them out safely.”

Hulk nodded decisively. “Hulk smash… Leave road,” he said then corrected himself. “Make road! Hulk make!”

Within a few hours Hulk had gained enough trust that he was helping to lift rubble off the trapped people.

By the end of the day a photo of a six year girl trying to stretch her arms around Hulk’s neck in a hug after he’d rescued her was trending around the globe. “And I thought I was going to have to work for my paycheck,” the publicist Pepper had assigned to deal with the Hulk-issue laughed.

 

* * *

 

 

**~ Steve ~**

It didn’t quite come to come to walking but after the flight to Moscow Steve’s remaining funds weren’t enough for another flight. Instead he took a bus east, into the Ural Mountains. From Lesnoy he made the last leg of the journey riding unnoticed in the back of freight truck. _‘No reason to let HYDRA know I’m coming.’_

Less than a week after the Battle of Manhattan, Steve stood in a dense Russian forest, peering down into a narrow mountain valley at small compound made up of several squat, grey buildings. Last time Natasha had told them that Uranium had been mined there once but the vein had gone dry and the compound had been abandoned. After the mining had moved on a several different Soviet quasi-military organizations had utilized the place before it ended up in the hands of a Russian branch of HYDRA. _‘A beautiful place, made ugly by the use it was given over to,’_ Steve thought, as he had the last time he’d been there.

There were a few people in dark uniforms with HYDRA’s insignia on the shoulder taking a smoke break in the shadows of one of the buildings and others going about their business. But the Compound’s population was sparse. In 2012 it housed a small research team, trying to clone the Super Soldier Serum from Bucky’s blood while he was, basically, in storage between missions. Steve assumed that there would be at least a small contingent of combat personnel, in case the Winter Soldier’s programming failed or if someone tried to take HYDRA’s ‘asset’. In any case it would have been stupid NOT to assume that he’d meet resistance when he went in.

For a moment Steve paused, remembering Azzano, breaking into the Nazi prison camp with nothing more than a stage prop shield and his determination to bring Bucky home. He remembered coming back triumphantly, having shut down the HYDRA lab there and liberated over a hundred POW’s. He nodded to himself then jogged down the slope.

The fence around the compound was little more than a formality. Steve barely broke stride as he went over it. He took down the smokers before they realized he was there. They were down, and down forever, practically before Steve’s consciousness caught up with his reflexes. Steve had gone from over a month of intense fighting against Thanos straight into the Battle of Manhattan. Mind and body, he was primed for fighting things that were more than human, four days of wondering what comes next and trying to get to Bucky hadn’t aided in his shifting gears. _‘I guess Fury wasn’t being altruistic last time when he waited a month before he started in on the ‘Since an agent spotted you in the area’ requests,’_ Steve thought as he moved one of the bodies into a shadowed corner. He thought about what Fury’s ulterior motives meant to his relationship with the master-spy as he eyed the HYDRA operatives going between the buildings then boosted himself through a window when the coast was clear. _‘Fury never made a pretense of being anything other than an ends-justify-the-means bastard.’_

Once he was in, Steve spent a moment considering trying to reign in his strength but he was operating solo thousands of miles from uncertain support and a mistake in the other direction could mean losing the mission, losing Bucky- Again. Steve hadn’t been able to save his best friend from being taken to Azzano. He hadn’t been able to prevent Tony from attacking Bucky or to keep him safe from the Snap. Even though he’d traveled back in time he hadn’t been given the chance to prevent Bucky from falling from the train or the seventy years of torture and dehumanization that had followed. All he could do was spare Bucky a few years of abuse at HYDRA’s hands, even so Steve was determined that he wouldn’t fail his friend again. _‘Everyone here has been directly involved in turning Bucky into a weapon. Under their control he’s not even allowed to be human. They’ve got it coming,’_ he thought as he snapped the neck of one of the scientists he encountered in the lab he’d invaded.

Steve cleared the first of four buildings before the alarms started going off. He was glad to have his shield back in his hands for the rest of the fight. The arm-shields T’Challa had given him were also made of Vibranium but it wasn’t the same, they weren’t _his_ in the way the shield was. At the same time, practically aside... Steve had left the Captain America uniform behind at Stark Towers, time travel didn’t erase the changes in him. He wasn’t, couldn’t be Captain America when he couldn’t even regret that he’d chosen Bucky over the duty represented by that uniform, over anything that the shield had represented. During the Battle of Manhattan wearing the uniform had been like his first trip back to Brooklyn after the War only worse because this time it was him that had changed. But having the shield back in his hand? Steve estimated he was three times more effective with the shield. He couldn’t bring himself to leave it behind but still- _‘I wish there’d been a chance to really talk with Tony, to try to make things right between us.’_

The echoes of the last few shots faded into the heavy silence of graveyards and ghost towns. Steve didn’t know if anyone had gotten off a call for backup or had opted to retreat. He hurried into the old mineshaft where they’d found the chair and the sarcaugus-like Cryo chamber the last time and was relieved to find that the only change was the cryo chamber was full this time. Steve booted up the computer, the program that controlled the chamber started up automatically and after a few minutes of searching through Windows based drop-down menus he found what he was looking for. The defrost cycle was a simple, one click macro but it still took nerve-wracking hours for the process to be completed. Slowly the ice crystals retreated from the window of the capsule, revealing Bucky’s form. The temperature probe crept upwards, from subzero numbers to hypothermic ones. Several minutes later a jolt of energy restarted Bucky’s heart and he started to draw breath. Finally, above the muzzle HYDRA forced him to wear, Bucky’s familiar grey-blue eyes blinked open. The whole time Steve was waiting for HYDRA reinforcements to show up and try to take Bucky from him again.

Steve opened the chamber and began unfastening the heavy straps holding him in place. “Bucky,” he breathed reverently.

“Я готов отвечать,” the Soldier stated. While Steve gaped at him he stood stiffly at attention, waiting for his orders.

 

* * *

 

 

**~ Bruce ~**

Pepper didn’t make Bruce her new head of R&D but she did hire him into the department. The lab she assigned him to was every bit as well equipped as the one Tony had given him before. His new coworkers had all been hand picked by Tony Stark, which turned out to mean that they all shared Tony’s predilection for explosions and were more likely to poke him with sharp sticks to see what would happen rather than fearing him… Pepper provided space and materials for a Hulk Room below the lab and approved cutting a staircase through the floor for quick access almost before Bruce finished explaining his request.

She also offered to put together a specialized seminar on harassment for his co-workers but despite Bruce’s concerns, the Hulk was amused rather than enraged at their antics. Occasionally he came out far enough to inform them when something ‘tickled’. As months passed and the only ‘incidents’ were when the Hulk seized control to go out and help with the rescue and rebuilding efforts Bruce gave up on attempts to dissuade his lab mates from turning his Hulk Room into their private break room.

Bruce wasn’t really that surprised that the power shift from Sakaar had returned to the past with him, after all it was all in his head. When he’d been conscripted to help with the Invasion of 2012, Bruce had considered his control over the Hulk relatively good: He held the keys, he could let the Hulk out when he chose and, once the beast had exhausted itself, he could lock it away again. Sakaar had changed all that. The Hulk got his own set of keys there. It wasn’t a change Bruce welcomed but it was forcing him to recognize that the Hulk wasn’t the monster he’d once believed him to be.

“I feel like I’m in a popularity contest with Mr. Hyde… And Fred, he’s winning,” Bruce told the publicist Pepper had assigned to him.

“After the Invasion, Hulk really put himself out there. During the clean up, he was out there every day until everyone was accounted for. And he was the only Avengers there. If I had to guess from merchandise sales, forty percent of the kids in this city are sleeping with a Hulk plushy these days,” the publicist said. “I’m not saying that you didn’t do your part but Doc, either by habit or intention, you tend to blend into the background. If you want if you want more likes on YouTube, you’re going to have to stop being a wallflower.”

Bruce rubbed his temples. “I’m a scientist, not a rock star,” he said. _‘Sakaar turned the Hulk into a ham,’_ he thought uncharitably.

Fred grinned slyly and gestured to their surroundings. “Consider where you work. Smart is cool here and we actively encourage our consumers to agree with that.”

“I can’t be Tony,” Bruce said shaking his head.

“I’m not say that- well not exactly,” Fred replied. “You need your own style. Mimicking Tony’s, well that’s Justin Hammer territory.” He cringed theatrically. “Just- just stop being ashamed of your intelligence. Doc, you are one of the smartest people on the planet, don’t apologize for it, own it.” Bruce heard Tony’s echo, _“You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut.”_

 

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

“So where are we?” Tony asked the Nova Corps Denarian.

Rhomann Dey grimaced. “You realize that the Corps fought to keep Thanos’ forces off Xander when he came for the Power Stone, we had heavy casualties before he halved our population. Then he halved it again with the Snap. I got promoted… a bunch of promotions… By virtue of not being dead.”

“Trust me, I know about fighting uphill battles,” Tony replied. “I’m not going to blame you because you haven’t managed to get your entire planet on red alert about what’s coming. I couldn’t even get my own team to take me seriously last time. But I need to know where we are.”

“I’m not the only one that remembers,” Dey reported. “There’s a couple dozen others who were there and who remember. And people who were alive after the Snap, they’re primed to believe.”

“The Universe’s worst case of deja vu?” Tony said. “Yeah, I can see that.”

Dey nodded. “I’ve got enough support that Nova Prime is listening when I say that Ronan had a backer. But the Nova Corps is an old and proud organization. It’s a harder sell to convince them that there’s someone out there who can waltz through our defenses, into the heart of our Headquarters and take the Stone from our most secure vault.”

Tony sighed. “Okay, that’s not good. We know he took the Power Stone first. The timeline we established goes: Power, Space, Reality, Soul, Time and finally Mind. Every Stone he gets, the worse our chances are but they’re also our surest lure to get him where we want him.”

“The Power Stone is the best to risk for bait,” Nebula cut in. “We can’t expect to win if he controls Reality or Time. If he gets the Space Stone we won’t be able to get in place for round two. But Xander is a major population center, we don’t want to fight Thanos here. Not if we can avoid it.”

“What about the Mind Stone or the Soul Stone?” Dey asked. “According to Stark, the Terrans beat the Mind Stone twice. It can’t be that dangerous.”

“The Mind Stone is on Earth, which is ALSO where the Time Stone is. If this doesn’t work out the Time Stone is our ace in the hole, we don’t want Thanos mucking around Earth,” Tony said. “As for the Soul Stone, we need to rendezvous with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Odds are that they’ve got a clue about how he got it. I mean, Gamora might not remember how he took the Soul Stone,” Tony glanced at Nebula and wished he’d bit his tongue, “but she’s also the one who hid it from him in the first place.”

“The Orb can’t stay here,” Nebula stated.

“I’m working on it,” Dey protested.

“Would it help if the Daughter of Thanos told your Nova Prime why I defected and if I confirmed that my father is actively seeking out the Infinity Stones?” Nebula asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” a look of relief crossed Dey’s face. “That might do it.... You’re much scarier than I am.”

“Damn right she is,” Tony said admiringly.

A faint flush turned Nebula’s cheeks purple. She touched her face as if startled to discover that she was capable of blushing.

 

* * *

 

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“I don’t know why they’re harassing Ms. Potts about it.”

Bruce glanced up from the research papers he’d been catching up on while eating his lunch in a corner of the SI cafeteria.

“You know it’s the Board holdouts from the bad old days,” the second guy said. “As long as Tony was the majority stockholder there was no chance of SI building weapons again but… If they can force Ms. Potts to have him declared dead then it all depends on where his shares go.”

“It sucks, that’s all I’ve got to say,” the first said.


	6. Tectonic Movement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m going to assume that Bucky’s trigger words are sort of an emergency reboot of his programing. Something that can be done fast and dirty in the field if he started to rebel. But the words wouldn’t be needed if he were being brought out of cryo, they’d be an automated part of the freezing/defrosting cycle.

**~ Bruce ~**

“Hey Banner, mind lending a hand up in the penthouse?” Rhodes called as he landed the newly repainted and re-christened Iron Patriot on the tower balcony, allowing the disassembly unit to release him from the suit. “Thanks J.A.R.V.I.S.,” he added as armor was peeled away.

“You are welcome Colonel. It is always a pleasure to see you,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “...Regardless of the strain on my optical sensors.”

“She is a bit of an eyesore, isn’t she,” Rhodes agreed. “But it tested well with focus groups.”

“And Sir warned you against association with A.I.M.,” J.A.R.V.I.S. scolded.

“You know it’d come out a little funny if I mentioned how Tony brought up A.I.M. in the same breath as Hammer… Two months before the military started vetting A.I.M. as a contractor,” Rhodes said as Bruce stepped out of the elevator.

“Your message from Tony?” Bruce asked.

Rhodes nodded, “Yeah, he warned me away from A.I.M.- Not that I’ve really got the choice to tell the military screw it-”

“Given that we are discussing the armor’s integrity and your personal safety, one might think you’d try a little harder,” J.A.R.V.I.S. interjected disapprovingly.

“Which is why Dr. Banner and I are going over War Machine with a fine toothed comb,” Rhodes placated. “Doc, I know this isn’t exactly your speciality but you’re the only person I know who’s in Tony’s league. If A.I.M. did do something to the armor we can set it right and catch them off guard when they play their hand.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Bruce agreed. “Was there anything else in your message? It might give me an idea of what to be on the lookout for.”

Rhodes hesitated for a moment, “It was like- like Tony knew more than he was saying but he was worrying about sounding crazy. Not that he didn’t sound a little nuts- He told me to go to Rose Hill, that there was another explosion with the same signature as the Mandarin attacks… Except there’d only been one Mandarin attack then and the government had managed to keep it hushed up. Oh and while I was in Rose Hill, Tony wanted me to drop in on a kid called Harley Keener and give him a few tips about dealing with bullies. And there’s another kid in Queens who Tony wants me to keep an eye on, I haven’t had a chance to drop in on him yet.”

“What’d you find when you checked it out?” Bruce asked.

“Mostly, after five minutes talking with the Keener kid I wanted an excuse to do a DNA comparison on him- I know he’s not Tony’s but damned if he doesn’t remind me of him. Wish I had an excuse to keep him close.” He shook his head, “I asked around about the bomb that went off but all I got was that that the mom- Not Keener’s mom, the Davis kid’s. His mom blames the military for everything: Davis’ initial injuries. Not getting him more support in his recovery. And the bomb; the poor kid blew himself and five others up.”

“Shall I comply data on this Mr…. Davis,” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked. “There may yet be some clue connecting the bomb he used to the Mandarin.

“Chad, Chad Davis,” Rhodes said. “That’d be a big help.”

Bruce and Rhodes spent the rest of the day taking War Machine apart and scouring every piece of the armor for malicious tech while J.A.R.V.I.S. examined every line of code. In the end they didn’t find any changes beyond the paint job which, frankly, seemed more misguided than malicious.

That night in his quarters Bruce spent several minutes pacing. “J.A.R.V.I.S.,” he finally said looking at his hands rather than toward the speakers in the ceiling where J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice originated from. “Would Tony… forget, if someone hurt him? I don’t mean, say ‘It’s forgotten’, really forget.”

“Why do you ask?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked with an edge to his voice.

“In the original timeline, Tony told me… something… a few weeks after he fought the Mandarin but I- I wasn’t in a good place to deal with anyone else’s problems. So I didn’t listen, I shut him out, ended up falling asleep while I was busy _not_ hearing what he was saying,” Bruce confessed. “Do you think Tony would- forget, that I didn’t listen to him? Because right now, I’m afraid that I’m supposed to know more about what’s going on than I do.”

“Yes,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said subtle but clear disapproval in his voice. “I have seen Sir… Delete knowledge of actions that he found hurtful. Almost always this behavior is associated with actions taken by those Sir deemed friends, people he wanted to keep close despite having been hurt by them. I have never understood this behavior. When I was newer I asked Sir to explain it but the question distressed him so I did not pursue it.”

Bruce sighed, “The Mandarin is a threat. In my timeline Happy Hogan was somehow caught in one of his bombs and that made it personal for Tony but the Mandarin still managed to kill over a hundred people and kidnapped the US President before Tony and Rhodes stopped him.”

“That is odd,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

“How so?” Bruce asked.

“Because Sir warned Mr. Hogan against Aldrich Killian, not the Mandarin.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

“Я готов отвечать,” the Soldier stated.

“Bucky,” Steve repeated holding out his hands in a calming gesture. “It’s okay, I’m here to save you. It’s Stevie, ‘to the end of the line’? You remember me right?”

“Актив работает оптимально. Я готов отвечать.” The soldier’s face remained impassive but his eyes flickered warily in the direction of HYDRA brainwashing Chair. Falteringly Steve translated the Soldier’s words: “The asset is performing optimally. Read to comply.”

“No!” Steve exclaimed. “No! Never. I’m here to save you Bucky!” He walked over and with a grunt of effort ripped the Chair out of the floor and smashed it. “I’ll never let them put you back in that abomination ever again!”

For a moment a startled look crossed the Soldier’s face before he blanked his expression again and asked in thickly accented English, “What are your orders?”

Steve looked crushed. “We- we have to go. Before they said reinforcements. You’ll remember later.”

“Go where?” the Soldier asked.

“Home,” Steve started to say then realized that they were already less than two thousand miles from the Siberian border. He took a deep breath, “Bucky, do you remember where the other Winter Soldiers were being stored? Can you get us there?”

“Is this my mission?” the Soldier asked.

_‘The other Winter Soldiers ARE a threat. They should be dealt with before anyone CAN use them against us.’_ Steve took a deep breath, “Yes. Yes it’s your mission.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“In 2010, Tony called the Iron Man suit a prosthetic. Disingenuous as that might have been it’s not entirely untrue,” Bruce said. He was wearing a new suit and feeling a sort of nervousness that he hadn’t experienced in years as he stood in front of Pepper Potts and several of SI’s senior researchers. “The Iron Man armor is fully articulated. It’s range and precision of movement is already light-years ahead of anything on the market today.”

“All you need is a biomechanical interface, to enable to systems like the armor to be controlled directly by the brain rather than amplifying movements of the body. And I can do biomechanical interfaces,” Bruce said. “Along with Gamma Radiation I’ve spent years working on those types of systems.”

“Prosthetics is a good fit for this company. Stark Industries has long and proud history with the military. Disabled veterans compose a significant fraction of those needing prosthetic limbs in this country, they are used to Stark tech and they trust it. And helping people maimed by the tools of war reclaim their lives… Is very much in line with the direction Tony Stark set in 2008.”

“Additionally, I’d like to suggestion Stark Industries look into partnering with Dr. Helen Cho and U-Gin Genetics. Combine what Stark Industries can do to create a functional frame to replace a missing limb with her work in artificial tissue, indistinguishable from human tissue… And in ten years we’ll be able to make prosthetics indistinguishable from natural limbs.”

“Thank you, Doctor Banner,” Pepper said after she and the others finished questioning grilling him about his project. “Please provide a more detailed timeline, including quarterly milestones and a proposed annual budget and we’ll go from there.”

“I’ll have it to you by the end of the week,” Bruce replied.

As Pepper left she glanced over her email on her phone, “J.A.R.V.I.S.,” she called. “Could you call Aldrich Killian and politely decline his request for a meeting?”

“What reason shall I offer, Ms. Potts?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked.

Pepper considered for a few minutes. “Site my prior employment with him and current difficulties with my Board of Directors. Tell him any suggestion that I might have a conflict of interests or a bias with regards to him personally is potentially something the Board would attack. Tell him, maybe next year, once things settle down here, he could try again.”

“In other words: It’s not him, it’s you?” J.A.R.V.I.S. said drily.

Pepper neither confirmed nor denied.

 

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

“What do you want Nebula?” Gamora demanded warily as she glared at her sister’s image on the Milano’s view screen.

“I’ve realized that I’d be happy with the occasional opportunity to kick your ass in a spar, I don’t actually need to destroy you to be content,” Nebula stated. “Thanos though… He took a part of my body every time I lost and then he demanded I _thank_ him for it. So if anyone is Interested in helping me slowly tear him apart, piece by piece. I'm recruiting team- Well, more like an army.”

“Or we could blow him into a billion pieces all at once,” Tony interjected. “That works too, as long as he’s dead it’s all good.”

Drax shoved his way past Quill and dropped their shields.

“Drax, what are you doing?” Quill demanded.

“Letting them in,” Drax said.

“I can see that! But why? She’s the bad guy! Remember Xander?” Quill exclaimed.

“What do you think Gamora: Does your sis have reason to want Thanos’ head on stick?” Rocket asked casually.

Gamora hesitated. She glanced from Nebula to Tony, “Who is he?” she demanded.

Nebula replied with predator’s smile, “Iron Man, the Terran who destroyed four Chitauri Leviathans.”

“Terran?” Quill exclaimed. “What’s your opinion of ‘Who’s the Boss’?”

Tony shrugged, “I’d do Angela.”

Quill thought about that for several minutes. “Okay, truce. If you’re sincere about going against Thanos maybe we’ve got something to talk about.”

Later that night. After a variety of interrogations on everything from preferred dismembering techniques to musical preferences- Differing opinions over ‘Brandy’ almost led to blows between Quill and Tony- After Nebula and Tony had returned to their ship for the night, Rocket slipped out of the Milano’s airlock and jetted over to the other ship.

“So, here’s my idea,” Rocket said without preamble. “Quill’s Bio-dad is massively overpowered megalomaniac who we had to kill before he went omnicidal on a Universal scale last time. I propose we introduce him to Thanos. We let the two of them work out who gets to kill the Universe via the time-honored tradition of murdering the hell out of each other… Then we swoop in with whatever armada you two have manage to assemble and blast the hopefully very weakened survivor until dead. What do you think?”

Tony’s jaw dropped. “Star-Putz’s dad is actually worse than Thanos?”

Rocket shrugged, “Half the Universe, the whole Universe, don’t know that I see much of a difference. At least Ego didn’t make me barf in my mouth claiming that he was doing it for our own good.”

“What if they decide to work together?” Tony asked.

“Ego needs Quill to do his thing and Thanos is going to dust Quill, not much room for common ground there,” Rocket explained.

“We don’t know that the same fifty percent will be turned to dust,” Nebula remarked.

Rocket smirked, “We don’t know that it won’t. So, when we’ve collected up everyone willing to take old Nutsack-Chin on, Quill goes with them. Meanwhile someone goes and tells Ego that his key to universal domination, oh I mean kid, is about to get himself turned into paste.”

“You just have to keep Ego from Quill until Quill stands on the rocks of Titan,” Nebula said doubtfully.

“It’s got potential,” Tony said. “If this Ego-maniac shows up early, well you’ve handled that before… How did you handle that before?”

Rocket shrugged, “We shoved a bomb far enough up his metaphorical ass to blow his mind.”

“Yeah, I can see that working,” Tony said. “The plan was always throw everything at Thanos including the kitchen sink, this Ego seems like a pretty decent kitchen sink.”

“There we go,”. Rocket said. “We kill Thanos, kill Ego. And maybe this time Quill doesn’t hear how his dad murdered his mom because he was starting to like her enough to think about maybe NOT replacing everything with more him.”

Tony flinched, “Maybe you think you mean well but that sort of secret? Just- just don’t okay?”

“What am I supposed to say?” Rocket exploded. “That I come from a future where we went up against Thanos and they’re all dead? That I haven’t slept a night through since coming back ‘cause when they’re outta sight for too long I start thinking that this is the dream, that I’m fooling myself thinking they’re NOT dead? And oh, by the way Quill, your dad that your mom told you all this romantic bullshit about? He’s the reason you had to watch her die slowly.”

“What happens if you don’t tell Quill and Thanos isn’t the last evil bastard standing?” Tony asked quietly.

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

“Who is my target? What is the timeframe?” the Soldier asked.

“No!” Steve exclaimed. “I’d never ask you to kill anyone!”

“What is my mission?”

“Just get us there, okay? That’s it, just get us there.”

“Is stealth or speed required?”

“It’s um, we need to get away from here soon,” Steve stammered. “But- after that… Well, I’ve got to be back in D.C. in eighteen months to make sure Project: Insight doesn’t get in the air. Other than that, take all the time you need.”

Once the ‘mission’ was clarified to the Soldier’s satisfaction he took initiative planning it. Before leaving the base he secured a relatively non-descript vehicle for their use and raided the armory. After some consideration he chose several handguns and, reluctantly, only one long range rifle. He eyed Steve and his shield for several moments then left the larger caliber assault weapons behind.

Steve smiled at seeing Bucky take charge.

Then the Soldier set to methodically searching all the bodies strewn about, collecting as much cash as he could find.

“Bucky! What are you doing?” Steve exclaimed.

The Soldier kept working until Steve grabbed him by the shoulder. “Need money for gas, food too,”he explained.

“You shouldn’t do that,” Steve protested.

“You have funds?”

“Not really.”

The Soldier was silent for several minutes. “Less risk than stealing from the living,” he grunted as he flipped over the next body. Out of the corner of his eye he observed Steve’s grimace. He glanced at the ruins of the Chair, at the absence of guns at Steve’s waist or shoulder. “The Asset does not fail its missions. This is efficient. More efficient than killing more later.”

“Okay,” Steve surrendered.

Once the Soldier finished ransacking the base they started driving south, not stopping until, Nizhny Tagil where they turned east. “Either we get a plane in Krasnoyarsk or we wait until Lesosibirsk and get a snow-track,” lthe Soldier informed Steve. “There are no roads to the Bunker,”

“What do you think is best, Bucky?” Steve asked.

For a long moment the Soldier was silent, staring blankly at Steve until, with a start, he realized that Steve was addressing him. “What year?” he asked.

“2012,” Steve said.

The Soldier considered for a moment. “The runaway’s dirt. Haven’t seen it since 1992, could be in bad shape. The Snow-Track’s slower but sure.”

After that was decided a tense silence fell over the pair. The Soldier was always tense and Steve expected HYDRA to descend on them at any second. But as the miles rolled monotonously by Steve started to relax.

“‘Member that one base in Starnburg?” Steve asked. “All of us packed like sardines in the back of a couple trucks hoping that Falsworth and Jacques’ German was good enough to maintain our cover. Then I send you and Dum Dum out to scrounge for food and the two of you come back with a couple dollies.”

Steve waited for, expected Bucky to counter with a remark about how those two, silly, half-drunk girls had ended up being key to their not being discovered but the Soldier’s eyes never strayed from the road. He didn’t even acknowledge that Steve had spoken.

Eventually, reluctantly, Steve gave up on trying to prompt Bucky’s memories, at least for the moment. They drove through the night, trading off drivers when Steve started worrying about Bucky. When they reached Tyumen, Steve decided the city was large enough for anonymity and they should get some food while they had the chance.

The truck-stop diner where they stopped had a universal function-dictates-form familiarity to it. Steve led the way to a corner booth. “What do you want? I’ll order,” the Soldier said. He left it unmentioned that Steve’s lack of familiarity with Russia would make him more memorable.

When the food arrived it was a relief for Steve to have an excuse for the silence between them that should have been full of comfortable conversation.

They were almost done with their meals when a picture of Pepper Potts appeared on the TV. “What are they saying?” Steve asked, the little Russian that he’d picked up from Natasha insufficient to keep up.

The Soldier listened for several moments. He frowned as he tried to summarize the pundit’s debate as succinctly as possible. “They’re saying she’s…” He trailed off, searching for an equivalent English phrase. “-A ditzy dame who can’t face up to what’s obvious. That Stark always ran the company. She was just a mouthpiece, someone to take care of… the humdrum and make nice for him.”

Steve sagged with relief at the familiar slang, “Bucky! You’re starting to remember,” he exclaimed.

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

Bruce clicked on to a radio talk show that had been particularly outspoken against Pepper since the Invasion, wanting to get a handle on what the worst case might be.

“Has anyone considered Ms. Potts has a point?” the caller challenged. “We’ve all seen the video of Dr. Stark carrying the nuke through the portal to space. So yeah, his chances of survival are pretty abysmal but think about 2008. Who expected a playboy billionaire to survive months of captivity in the hands of terrorists and then rescue himself.”

“Be that as it may,” the radio talk show host replied. “Alive or dead, Tony Stark is on the wrong side of portal into space. The portal generator, which we have been assured is the only way Earth could be reached by those Chi-tar-i, has been destroyed and the means for making another secured against further misuse in Asgard’s vaults. Assuming, against all odds and logic, that Tony Stark is alive, he’s clearly not going to be returning to Earth any time soon. Stark Industries, one of the largest global corporations active today, cannot go on hold while Stark’s girlfriend lives in her little bubble of denial.”

“SI is not on hold,” the caller snapped. “Pepper Potts has been the CEO of Stark Industries for several years now and the company has only grown. Tony going missing didn’t land her in that position. This wouldn’t even be a topic if Ms. Potts were a man.”

The next time Bruce heard Pepper growling about the Board and the pressure they were putting on her he asked, “Couldn’t you have Tony’s lawyer examine the will? I mean, I was given S.H.I.E.L.D.’s personality profile on Tony, he thought he was dying when he put you in charge of SI. I seriously doubt there’s anything in his will that would undermine your control.”

Pepper gave Bruce a tired smile. “It’s not that I’m worried about what Tony put in his will,” she said. “So maybe they have point about me. I could cut them off at the knees but… But reading Tony’s will? It feels too much like giving up on him and I can’t do that.”

Awkwardly Bruce reached out and patted her on the shoulder. “He’ll be back. Tony’s tough like that.”

“I know,” Pepper said. A spark lit in her eyes. “And I want to shove it down the throat of everyone on the Board who thinks that they can use what Tony did to save New York to tear down everything we’ve built in the last four years: Tony is not dead. They can’t have this company. I want them so blacklisted that they couldn’t get a job cleaning toilets at McDonald’s after I’m done with them. And I don’t want to have to resort to Tony’s will, to letting them MAKE me act like Tony’s not coming back to do it.”

Bruce backed away from Pepper carefully. In the back of his head he heard Hulk’s deep chuckle. _“Hulk like Fire-Girl,”_ he rumbled. _“Puny Banner, call Betty. Make them friends.”_


	7. Making Friends and Influencing People

**~ Tony ~**

“I should tell him,” Rocket said. “It’s for his own good. As long as Quill keeps clinging to his fantasy-Hasselhoff father he’ll never see what he’s got in Yondu.”

The next night. “If it were just about that asshole Ego I’d have done it but it’s his mom too. It was the whole ‘life sucks, shit happens to people who don’t deserve it’- Quill knew the score. But it wasn’t. His dad killed her, killed her because she could have changed him and that’s a whole ‘nother level of fucked up. Quill’d never believe me if I told him.”

“Even if he doesn’t believe you now, it’ll be better when it comes out,” Tony advised.

Later. “Why me? Why couldn’t Yondu have told him?”

“There was a mountain of bones,” Nebula said. “How many of Quill’s brothers and sisters did Yondu deliver to be slaughtered?”

“Yeah, yeah I know,” Rocket sighed. “I wouldn’t have told him either, if I’d been Yondu. ‘Specially not when he was a kid… And once he wasn’t it’d been too late.”

“That’s bullshit,” Tony said.

Later. “Today sucked already.”

Tony scowled at Rocket. “Are you sparing him or sparing yourself?”

Later. “I’m further down the road in this whole Guardians of the Galaxy shit. Going up against Ronan, it wasn’t no small thing but- But the months that came after: Tending Groot’s re-sprout. Banging around fighting together- and fighting each other. Celebrating big scores, picking between spare parts and dinner when we went too long between jobs. That all mattered too. I got a lot more of that, plus Ego behind me. They aren’t there yet.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Tony said, he tried to keep the bitterness from his voice.

Later. “I’ll do it tomorrow,” Rocket declared. “You two assholes are going to be there. If they chuck me out I’ll need a new crew.”

When Tony and Nebula joined the others on the Milano for breakfast Tony fully expected Rocket to put telling Quill off again. Rocket fussed with Groot’s pot, adding more fertilizer and water for the baby Flora Colossus. “You guys ‘member a while back when I got a little weird?”

“You mean when you were weeping like a baby and grabbing everyone?” Drax asked.

“I’m missing you less now,” Rocket remarked pointing a gun nearly as large as he was at the towering tattooed man.

“I thought it was a delayed reaction to almost losing Groot,” Quill remarked. “We knew you two were tight coming in.” He patted Rocket on the shoulder and ignored the way Rocket’s aim shifted toward him. Groot send out a tendril to pull Rocket close enough to his pot to hug.

“I thought you were drunk,” Gamora offered.

“Yeah, well, The Collector told us about how there were six of those Stones? I had- Will have? -a run in with the Time Stone a couple cycles down the line and- um- It sent my consciousness backwards.” He jerked a thumb in Tony and Nebula’s direction. “Them too and a bunch of others, that’s how I know Nebula’s on the up and up.”

“What happened?” Gamora demanded, turning to Nebula.

“Thanos got all six stones,” Nebula said.

“He couldn’t!” Gamora protested.

“Because you hid the Soul Stone?” Nebula asked pointedly. “He took it over your dead body. He got them all and he did it: Killed half the Universe.”

“How do you even know about the Soul Stone?” Gamora demanded.

“What part of ‘from the future’ did you miss?” Nebula shot back.

“Long story short,” Tony interrupted. “My team, your team, Roger’s team and a couple armies tried to stop Thanos from getting his hands on all six Stones. We failed. Survivors from all over pulled together and proved that it is possible to beat him, at least when he doesn’t have the Stones. Then we came back to do it again when it would count. I used to call myself an Avenger but with half the Universe dead it isn’t enough to avenge them we have to make this right. The snap, it can’t be allowed to happen.”

“In that case, welcome to the Guardians of the Galaxy,” Quill said. “This is totally a fit for our mission statement.”

“Yeah, that’s great, we’ve got the cooler team name,” Rocket groused. “But I got something else I’ve gotta say. I figure it’ll digest better in chunks so I’m going to throw this out there: Quill, we met your father before the throw-down with Thanos-”

“My dad?” Quill broke in. “He’s alive, out there. We met him?”

“Yeah and he’s a dick.”

“Come on,” Quill protested. “He can’t be that bad.”

“You know, when he wasn’t there for your Mom? He was out wandering the galaxy knocking up other chicks,” Rocket said. “And I don’t mean one or two dozen. I mean it came from somewhere, you being able to look at an A'askavariian and think ‘I want to hit that’.”

“There were circumstances!”

“Quill’s father was a sex maniac?” Drax asked shoving Quill aside.

“I had more important worries at the time,” Rocket snapped.

“Such as?” Gamora asked.

Rocket sighed. “Quill, Nova Prime told you that your father wasn’t exactly normal right?”

“She said he was something never seen before,” Quill said warily.

“Yeah, not a lot of his kind around, or any. So he had to look real hard to find a species where his genes ‘d breed true,” Rocket said. “Call Yondu.”

“Why’d I want to talk to that A-hole,” Quill exclaimed. “Beside he probably wants to kill me after that switcher-roo with the Orb.”

“Ask who paid him to kidnap you,” Rocket said.

“He wasn’t paid, he just took me because I was a skinny kid.”

“All the kids in Mis-or-ei and Yondu just happens to pick the one that ain’t all human?” Rocket asked. “Ask him why he took you and why he kept you… Or just tell him you got a line on your father and you’re going looking for him. See how that goes over.”

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

_“This was the scene earlier today at a small cafe a few blocks from Stark Towers,” the reporter said over footage of several tanks and a heavily armored military squadron clogging the streets of New York. “When the US Military launched an unprovoked attack on the Hulk.”_

_The Hulk’s massive arms shielded two women, one dark haired and the other strawberry blonde, from the guns. A number of the Cafe’s patrons huddled fearfully behind the behemoth. “STOP!” the Hulk roared._

_War Machine descended a few moments later. “Stand down!” he ordered as he hovered in front of the tank. “What the fuck are you thinking! I want ranks and names NOW!”_

_“The Hulk kidnapped a woman and was threatening-“_

_“Open your eyes!” Rhodes exclaimed. “You are the threat! Hulk is protecting these people FROM YOU!”_

_“Stupid little gun-men,” Hulk grumbled._

_“That’s right,” Rhodes agreed. “Bullets bounce off the Hulk. Explain to me what you were thinking opening fire on him in the middle of Manhattan!”_

Bruce buried his face in his hands. “I’m so sorry Betty. I should have realized ignoring the Other Guy when he started pestering me to call you wouldn’t work.”

“We were able to get a few words with Ms. Potts and her diner companions after the incident.”

_The TV cut to a clip from the short interview. “My boyfriend got a little over-excited at the thought of us working together again,” Betty Ross said. She reached up to pat the Hulk’s forearm. “And his alter-ego decided to give me a lift to the interview, hardly a kidnapping. I was never in any danger.”_

_The Hulk grumbled at that._

_“I wasn’t in any danger from Hulk,” Betty rephrased. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time my father’s obsession with Hulk has placed me in the line of fire.”_

_The reporter resumed the narrative. “ZCN has managed to find footage confirming Dr. Ross’ statement: In 2004, on General Ross’ orders, a military gunship opened fire on Culver University. As you can see in the footage Dr. Ross was in the line of fire and only survived because the Hulk’s protection._

_“How this story was buried is another question ZCN is actively pursuing. Preliminary evidence suggests S.H.I.E.L.D.’s involvement. The Invasion of Manhattan brought the clandestine organization to the public’s attention, garnering much acclaim for their foresight in assembling a team like the Avengers to be there when Earth needed them. But in light of this new discovery it may behoove us to look more closely at what S.H.I.E.L.D.’s goals truly are.”_

“I hope I didn’t overstep,” Betty said. “An interview was the first excuse I thought of when they shoved the microphone in my face.”

Pepper gave her a toothy grin, “And don’t think I won’t hold you to it. You told the world that there was a position for you at SI, if you don’t take it… You get to explain that to the press.”

“You’re not worried about my father?” Betty asked turning to include Bruce in the question.

“I’m not running anymore,” Bruce said. “I can’t keep letting Thaddeus Ross control how the world looks at Hulk and I. I’d love for you to stay and you being here won’t precipitate a confrontation with him, it was always inevitable.”

“It’s about time,” Betty said.

* * *

 

 

**~ Steve ~**

The bunker was as deserted as in Steve’s memories. He almost expected to find the Winter Core with bullets already in their heads when he stepped into the silo but they were still sleeping undisturbed in cryo-freeze. He stopped in the spot where, in another world, Zemo’s video had been set up.

“I hated Howard Stark,” Steve found himself telling the Soldier. “I knew I shouldn’t. He was one of the scientists who made Project Rebirth work. He supplied us with gear after Colonel Philips formed the Howlies. Howard flew me in to rescue you from Azzano! I know all that, I know how much I owed him… But I hated him. You remember what Howard was like don’t you?”

The Soldier stared at Steve impassively. He gave no indication of whether he remembered working with Howard Stark in ‘44 or murdering him in ‘91, or even if he remembered Howard Stark at all.

“Howard came off like this fat cat who’d never gone hungry a day in his life. Obnoxious braggart, talking up every doll he saw, even Peggy- And making me look like a rube in the process,” Steve complained. “Then I wake up in this century and I find out Howard spent the rest of life trying to find me, that he’d raised his kid on stories about how great I was. What was I supposed to say? Would it have done any good to tell Tony that? That Howard spent all that time, abandoned his family for a guy who could barely stand to be in the same room with him?”

“I never even really knew him, I just didn’t like him.” Steve shook his head, “There are more than a couple biographies about Howard Stark floating around in this day and age. He wasn’t what we thought he was back then. Turns out Howard came up from nothing. He got himself hired on as a salesman for this third rate arms manufacturer, Stane International, back during the Spanish Civil War. Then he kept sending back sketches, supposedly from the customer, of improvements they wanted before they’d close the deal. Zebediah Stane goes to starts implementing the changes, only it turns out that all those improvements were things Howard Stark had already patented. He’d taken them around to all the big U.S. arms manufacturers and hadn’t gotten any traction, couldn’t get anyone to listen to a dirt poor kid from the lower east side. He used the sales job to bypass the arms manufacturers, to present his ideas without anyone knowing that they came from him. Before long Stane International’s been renamed Stark Industries and they’re the top of the heap. Can’t say I approve of how Howard operated but I can’t say I don’t understand doing what you gotta to be heard either,” Steve said.

“And at the same time Howard was bringing guns into Europe ahead of the Lend-Lease act, he was smuggling people out. Apparently Edwin and Ana Jarvis did most of the work but there’s no doubt Howard knew about it and was covering for them. You’d think me knowing all that ought to change how I feel about him but I guess feelings don’t work like that. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about him is still that he was a jerk that I had to make nice with,” Steve said. “As much as Tony and I rub each other wrong, Howard was a far sight worse. I can’t say for sure what’d have happened if I’d had to go into the field with Howard on a regular basis like I did Iron Man but I can tell you it wouldn’t be pretty.”

Standing in that silo, surrounded by the sarcophagus-like cryo chambers, the Soldier stayed alert while he let Steve ramble on.

“I’m not- nothing could justify HYDRA ordering that hit,” Steve said quickly. “And it was HYDRA, not you that killed him. You know that don’t you Bucky?”

“You are the strangest Handler,” the Soldier stated when the silence had stretched out long enough that he realized Steve was waiting for an answer.

Steve jerked as if he’d been slapped. “Bucky! I’m not you’re handler, I’m your friend! Stevie? Punk? I know I changed but you remember me don’t you?” he pled.

The Soldier stared at him, suspicion flickering in his eyes. “Maybe,” he allowed.

Steve patted him on the shoulder. “Your memories’ll come back, it’ll be okay. You can trust me.”

The Soldier didn’t say anything and Steve decided to take his silence as agreement. “Nothing justifies what HYDRA did. I know Howard was Tony’s dad, that it had to be awful for Tony to see that, the murders, but I hated Howard. How he died didn’t change that. Didn’t change it anymore than knowing a good part of what I hated him for was just a mask he wore.” Deliberately Steve turned his back on the spot where the video would have played. He eyed the members of the Winter Core for several long minutes. “They were HYDRA’s worst of the worst, even before they got the serum?” he asked.

“An elite death squadron,” the Soldier confirmed.

Steve nodded grimly then took one of the guns the Soldier always had on him. “Why don’t you go wait in the hall,” he suggested awkwardly.

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

Bruce paced back and forth in his room at Stark Towers. Christmas was looming closer, the Mandarin’s attacks were revving up to a crescendo. Rhodes was struggling to follow up on the Rose Hill angle while his superiors were sending him on endless wild-goose chases in the Middle East but he still insisted that the Hulk, and Bruce by association, were too much the face of the Avengers. Apparently after the Battle of Manhattan the government was determined to save face and prove that they didn’t need the Avengers to solve all their problems.

“I wish I knew how it all connected,” Bruce said to J.A.R.V.I.S.

“How all of what connected?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked.

“Tony warned everyone close to him; Pepper, Rhodes and Happy; against Aldrich Killian and A.I.M. So far they’ve either kept their distance or in Rhodes’ case taken precautions and nothing has happened. Happy managed to remember that run-in Tony had with Killian back in 1999 but honestly I can’t imagine anyone carrying a grudge about something like that. Knowing Tony, he might have been obnoxious but the best Killian could have possibly hoped for was Tony’s attention for a couple of minutes to get his idea out there, something to catch Tony’s interest that might have improved his odds of getting a sit-down with someone from SI later.”

“I have learned that it is wise not to underestimate the degree of entitlement humans may feel with regards to Sir’s resources and time,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said disapprovingly.

“All the same, Killian hasn’t done anything, as far as we’ve been able to determine,” Bruce replied. “If he did have a beef with Tony maybe he’s not motivated to follow up on it with Tony gone and presumed dead.

“Then there’s our active problem: The Mandarin. I’m about ready to drum up an excuse to call him out on live TV just to get a bead on the guy… Does Tony have any isolated property in New York? There are so many people working out of the Tower, I’d hate to make it a target. Even if Hulk seems to be much more aware of collateral damage these days, there’s only so much even he can do to contain missile fire.”

“There is an old warehouse upstate,” J.A.R.V.I.S. suggested. “If you wish I could start relocating everything of value stored there in preparation.”

Bruce nodded, “It might just come to that, best to be ready. And then there’s Chad Davis. Rhodes mentioned his mother blaming the military for his injuries?”

“He lost a leg to an IED in Iraq,” J.A.R.V.I.S. reported.

Bruce froze. “That’s it, the Mandarin got ahold of Maya Hansen and her research. In my timeline he injected Pepper with it. Tony called Dr. Cho and I in to help him deactivate it… Before she lost her temper and literally blew up. Chad Davis didn’t set off the bomb, he was the bomb. But how did a U.S. Military vet make contact with someone like the Mandarin? Was he turned before his injuries?”

“He was a volunteer for a revolutionary new medical procedure being tested by A.I.M…Under the direction of Dr. Maya Hansen,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

“Maya Hansen is A.I.M.?!” Bruce exclaimed. “This whole time we’ve been so focused on Killian, looking at him as the sum and the whole of A.I.M. I’ve been an idiot J.A.R.V.I.S. Maya Hansen is the key. We need to find her.”

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

“You’re sure you have to go?” Quill asked. He glanced over at Gamora then leaned closer to Nebula and lowered his voice, “Even if she doesn’t say so, I know it’s really great for her to be able to reconnect with her sister.”

“Gamora asked me to kill her before allowing her to give away the Soul Stone’s location,” Nebula replied. “I have agreed. When we are closer to enacting our plan, the two of us will go into hiding, a final precaution to keep at least one Stone from Thanos’ hands. If he finds us, I will keep my promise.”

Gamora smiled wryly. “And possibly enjoy doing it.”

“Not without you fighting back to the best of your ability,” Nebula assured her.

“Yep, I can feel the love,” Tony interjected sounding more sincere than he meant to. “But the Bionic Woman and I have places to be and things to do before we go a Thanos-whacking. If things get out of hand Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers is the commander of this army, I’m just Paul Revere-”

“That had better not make me the horse,” Nebula remarked threateningly.

“We’re Paul Revere,” Tony corrected himself.

“You know who Paul Revere is?” Quill asked Nebula, wide-eyed.

“When I don’t understand, I ask,” Nebula said shortly.

“She’s good like that,” Tony remarked. “Anyway, Carol’s with the Kree and I hear there are some... issues between the Kree and the Nova Empire that pretty much required half the Universe dying to smooth over. So if you need support closer to home Rhomann Dey is your contact in the Nova Corps, Kraglin Obfonteri in Yondu’s Ravager Clan or Stakar Ogord for the rest of them. And if you’re really hard up, there’s Ayesha of the Sovereign but…”

Nebula turned to Rocket, “When we contacted her, she made it clear that she still remembers certain stolen batteries and she doesn’t forgive you or I just because it hasn’t happened in this timeline. She is willing to put her grudge against us on hold until Thanos is dead but not a moment longer.”

“You know, that kind of makes me want to steal those batteries all over again,” Rocket said. “They did come in handy after all.”

 _‘When they had to kill Quill’s father,’_ Tony thought, remembering some of Rocket’s rants as he tried to work himself up to tell Quill. “Or maybe don’t wait for trouble to find you before you call Yondu,” he said to Quill. “Believe me, it’s better to know.”

“I- I’ll think about it,” Quill said. “It’s just Yondu and I didn’t exactly part on good terms ya know. I don’t know why you guys can’t just tell me whatever it is that this big secret about my father.”

“Because I think you should talk to Yondu first, that’s why,” Rocket snapped.

“Where are you headed next?” Gamora asked Tony and Nebula.

“Asgard,” Tony said. “They’ve got the Space Stone and I expected the Reality Stone will be turning up there any day now.”


	8. Missing that Personal Touch

**~Tony ~**

“You were less apprehensive talking to the Sovereign and Thor was one of your Avengers, and not a part of Rogers’ faction,” Nebula observed as their ship approached the shattered chunk of planetoid that was Asgard. “What do you expect to go wrong?”

Tony shrugged. “So far I’m two for two on Space Vikings deciding to use me to test the durability of human necks. Maybe with the way the armor and I am now it won’t matter but I guess I’m still wondering how long it’ll take before Odin All-Daddy decides to see if my neck’ll snap when he lifts me by it.”

“I know Asgard’s reputation. They do not intimidate me,” Nebula declared.

Tony remembered his old team standing there, Clint blandly cracking wise, as Thor hoisted him up by the neck in a rage. “I- um- thanks,” He stammered. “But they have, or rather will have, control of two of the Stones. Plus Thor and his new toy were almost enough to take Thanos down, or so I hear. We sort of need them.”

“If we are going to work with them, they should learn to respect our strength.”

“That means ‘no’ on diplomacy?” Tony checked.

Nebula gave Tony an amused look, “That means I do not believe that diplomacy involves being a doormat.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

“Clint,” Steve said cradling the old landline phone against his shoulder. “It’s Steve. I’m so glad you were home.”

“How did you get this number?” Clint snarled.

“I know this sounds crazy but you gave it to me, in another time, another world,” Steve explained. “I’m in Astana… Kazakhstan. I take you know why I can’t call S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Yeah, Stark’s message,” Clint said warily. “Apparently he found some parasites when he was poking his nose into Phase II… Or maybe not?”

“You’re not wrong,” Steve replied.

“However he knew, Fury’s verified the info,” Clint said. “We’re taking steps to determine the extent of the infestation and to quarantine. But… I take it you need a pick-up?”

“Me and… a friend,” Steve confirmed.

“Yeah, that’s a problem,” Clint said. “Confirming someone’s dirty? That’s a piece of cake. Confirming they’re clean? Takes a little longer. You’re better off making your own way back to the States.”

While Steve spoke with Clint, the Soldier flipped through channels on the hotel’s grain old TV until he found a news channel.

Steve glanced up at the sound of Bruce Banner’s voice coming from the TV. “No, the government hasn’t requested the Avengers’ assistance with the Mandarin. I don’t know why they would; Alien invasions and Enhanced menances are our remit. As far as anyone knows, the Mandarin is nothing but… Well, I’d say a garden variety terrorist but most of them actually have a cause. From what I’ve seen the Mandarin just blows things up at random then tries to cobble together some… message in the aftermath. No one needs or wants the Avengers to come out for every nutcase. Given the damage we tend to do it’s important that we only assemble for crises that justify the likely collateral damage that will result. But…” Bruce paused and looked directly into the camera, his eyes flashing green. “But I will tell the Mandarin this: If attention is what you’re after, I’ll be waiting at: 534 NY-32, Highland Mills, NY. All your blather has gotten a bit irritating and the Other Guy could use the chance to blow off a little steam… If you’ve got the stones for it.”

“What is Bruce thinking?” Steve exclaimed. “Well, I suppose he thinks he’s got to fill in for Tony. But doing it by repeating Tony’s screw-ups?” He shook his head in disgust.

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

Bruce paced around the large empty space J.A.R.V.I.S. had cleared in the old Stark Warehouse.

Maya Hansen wasn’t answering her phone or email. He’d gone so far as to have Happy and a security team from SI check out her apartment in California. All they’d found was food rotting in her cupboards. Maya Hansen was in the wind, ‘Or buried in a shallow grave,’ Bruce thought fatalistically.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., you know what to do when they come?” Bruce asked as he cocked his head, listening for helicopter blades.

“I assure you, I am well aware of the information we require,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “You would do better to worry about your part.”

A dark chuckle broke from Bruce’s lips without any contribution from him. His eyes turned poison green. “Hulk scare them good,” a voice deeper and rougher than Bruce’s said.

“Remember they may be Enhanced themselves,” Bruce warned once he’d recovered control of his vocal cords.

_“Hulk better,”_ the behemoth grumbled as he subsided.

Bruce waited and he paced. There was no attack.

“Dr. Banner!” JARVIS exclaimed. “War Machine has just engaged with one of the Mandarin’s soldiers.”

Bruce jerked around, “Where?”

“The Middle East,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

The conflict ended almost before it began. “We missed something,” Bruce said guiltily. “A.I.M. did something to the armor and we missed it.”

“War Machine’s tracker is offline,” JARVIS reported ominously.

Bruce’s body began to expand, ripping through his clothes. “Hulk Go! Hulk know where Boom-Men are!” The Hulk burst through the roof of the warehouse and began making his way south with massive, distance eating leaps.

* * *

 

_Hours later._

“Master Hulk! Master Hulk, please listen to me,” J.A.R.V.I.S. begged. “I have traced War Machine’s flight back to its point of origin. You must go there. Colonel Rhodes is NOT in the armor. The Mandarin has control of it. Colonel Rhodes may be in danger!”

The Hulk grunted irritably as he tossed one of several dozen of the Mandarin’s Enhanced soldiers into the side the Norco with enough force to cause the man to explode as the Extremis in his veins went critical. “Hulk busy! Hulk find Boom-Men.”

“You are not listening to me!” J.A.R.V.I.S. protested. “You are in the wrong place. Colonel Rhodes is not there!”

“J.A.R.V.I.S., get Betty on the phone,” Pepper instructed. “Have her talk him down. In the meantime, are any of Tony’s old armors functional? Do I have authorization to use them?”

“You are authorized to operate the armor, Mark IV is functional and, fortunately, you and Sir are of a height,” J.A.R.V.I.S. confirmed.

Pepper took a deep breath. “How do I get in it?” she asked. “Someone has to go after Rhodey.”

“You are correct, Ma’am.” J.A.R.V.I.S. highlighted a spot on the balcony of the Tower. “Stand there then walk forward at a measured cadence and I will suit you up.”

“Give me a beat,” Pepper ordered. “I don’t want something bolted where it didn’t belong because nerves made me walk faster.”

“What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being. What's wrong with being confident?” pounded from the speakers as Pepper strode forward, the armor assembling around her.

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

A short clip from Bruce’s challenge played before switching “I am a teacher,” the Mandarin declared pompously. “I have no interest in the game of ‘Heros and Villians’. It isn’t anything personal Dr. Banner, you’re simply not worth my time. I am here to educate… All of you.”

Steve and the Soldier watched, along with the crew of the freight boat they’d arranged passage across the Caspian Sea with, as the TV showed the Iron Patriot landing near Air Force One. “Colonel Rhodes, please raise your face mask,” the head of the President’s security detail demanded. “We have been informed by Stark Industries that you engaged the Mandarin’s forces twenty hours ago and have been off the grid and radio silent since. Please confirm your identity or I will be forced to open fire.”

Mandarin spoke over the sounds of bullets ricocheting off the armor. “But sometimes lessons fail to go as planned and a teacher is forced to improvise. I hope the lesson I have striven to impart still comes across clearly.”

The Patriot armor peeled open and a man who was clearly not James Rhodes charged out. As the security detail’s bullets struck him the man began to glow orange. He broke through the detail and a moment later Air Force One and the US President were consumed in a massive fireball.

“My god!” Steve exclaimed. “What went wrong?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mark VII would have gone through the portal with Tony. Mark VI would be the one that went through the Helicarrier turbine (and without Tony, I’ll assume that it didn’t get repaired… yet). Mark V is the suitcase armor (J.A.R.V.I.S. wanted Pepper in something without the limitations of emergency armor). So Pepper ends up in Mark IV.
> 
> “Confident” by Demi Lavato didn’t come out until 2015, but it’s the song I kept coming back to, for both the lyrics and a beat that fit what I was looking for (couldn't find an appropriate beat with the word 'Rescue' in the lyrics).


	9. Unexpected Alliances

**~ Bruce ~**

The Hulk roared as dozens of the Mandarin’s Extremis soldiers swarmed over him. He grabbed one by the scruff of the neck and hurled him to the ground.

Several of those still clinging to the Hulk began to glow, overwhelmed by their fears. As they exploded, it triggered even more of the Extremis soldiers to go critical until the Hulk disappeared inside a massive fireball.

“Hulk!” Betty screamed as she watched the conflagration through the eyes of the satellite J.A.R.V.I.S. had commandeered.

For several long moments there was nothing but the sight of flames filling the screen. Then something moved within the smoke. The Hulk strode out of the dying flames, one hand clapped over his ear to protect his comm device. “Betty not worry. Hulk good,” he said.

“Yes!” Betty exclaimed laughing with tears of relief in her eyes. “Yes, Hulk is very good!”

Pepper’s shaky voice came over open the line. “This is Pepper Potts, piloting the Iron Man armor. I need ambulances and police to the South end of Plantation Key. Colonel James Rhodes has been shot. I repeat, I need an ambulance immediately.”

 

* * *

 

 

**~ Steve ~**

In the back booth of a filthy restaurant near the dock in a small Iranian port city, Steve Rogers and the Winter Soldier huddled over a small, staticky radio. “The Mandarin’s reign of terror ended with the assassination of US President Matthew Ellis. Several hours after the Mandarin’s final attack the terrorist himself was discovered, dead in a remote Florida Keys mansion. It is believed that Colonel James Rhodes, after being captured and losing control of the Iron Patriot armor to the Mandarin, managed to escape leading to the fatal confrontation between the decorated Air Force Colonel and the Mandarin. Colonel Rhodes is in critical condition today, after being shot multiple times during the battle. At the same time, several miles up the coast, the Hulk engaged in a massive battle in which dozens of the Mandarin’s Enhanced Soldiers detonated themselves when they realized that they couldn’t match the lone Avenger. Despite these victories, the question remains: How many more of these walking bombs are hidden among us? And what posthumous plans may they be enacting on behalf of their fallen leader?”

“I just didn’t think they needed Tony,” Steve told the Soldier. “Rhodes saved the President. I figured Tony just dragged Pepper into the mess then saved her from his own recklessness. But now- We have to get back and help.”

“Should I arrange passage?” the Soldier asked, a hint of impatience slipping past his thick mask of impassivity.

“Thanks Bucky,” Steve replied gratefully. “I just don’t know how to blend the way you do.”

The Soldier declined to comment.

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“Jamie’s going to pull through,” Roberta Rhodes relayed to the group in the military hospital waiting room.

Bruce’s body went limp as the tension that had been holding him up for the last twelve hours released him.

Pepper got up and hugged the older woman, “Oh thank goodness.”

“Thank you,” Roberta said forcefully. “If you hadn’t gotten to him so quickly-“

Pepper shook her head, “I’m just glad I could do that much. I can’t help but think Tony-“

“Would have been right in the thick of it alongside Jamie,” Roberta said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve told those boys it does no good to have an emergency medical contact if he’s lying on the next stretcher over. No guilt, young lady, no what if’s. You came to my son’s rescue.”

 

* * *

 

The TV in the waiting room showed the former US Vice President clapping a handsome, blonde man on the shoulder. “Aldrich Killian bravely came forward with information about the Mandarin and his Enhanced Soldiers.”

Killian looked down awkwardly. “I had to. After Dr. Hansen’s early human-testing of Extremis went so disastrous wrong and considering President Ellis’ ban on biotech research I shut down the project, naturally. But in the months that followed the tragedy of Rose Hills I began to suspect that Dr. Hansen had found another backer- You have to understand, Maya isn’t an evil woman but she was obsessed. She couldn’t accept that her project was a failure. I recognized the signature of an Extremis explosion from the footage of Chinese Theater and knew I had to come forward.”

“He’s lying,” Happy said as he, Pepper, Bruce and Betty for Rhodey to get out of surgery. “He’s the one who was working with the Mandarin, not that chick Maya.”

“What, she can’t be the bad guy because she’s a woman?” Betty asked.

The other three exchanged a look. “Because Tony left us all messages warning against Aldrich Killian, not Maya Hansen,” Bruce confided.

“But- The Battle of Manhattan ended before the Mandarin attacks began,” Betty said, confused.

“I know,” Pepper said. “A lot of what Tony said in his messages, well, it didn’t make any sense then… But now. It’s like he knew what was coming.” She glanced at Bruce, her eyes narrowing suspiciously, “Like how Dr. Cho’s cradle is exactly what Rhodey’s going to need to make a full recovery. Was that part of Tony’s message to you? Getting Dr. Cho on board?”

Bruce started to answer then glanced over at Betty and changed what he was going to say. “Dr. Cho and I also have almost the exact knowledge base needed to deactivate Extremis,” he said. “But Tony didn’t have to tell me that. I already knew, because I worked with her last time.”

“Last time?” Betty asked.

“Six years from now the Avengers face an enemy they couldn’t beat,” Bruce said. “He wiped out half the life in the Universe. But Tony, Princess Shuri of Wakanda, Wong, Nebula and Captain Carol Danvers came up with a plan to give us another chance. Steve Rogers, Tony and I were among those whose consciousnesses were sent back.” He turned to Pepper, “Tony used the Portal to get into space so he could start to prepare the galaxy to face Thanos. He left Steve and I to get Earth ready for it’s part.”

“I knew it,” Pepper breathed. “I knew Tony wasn’t dead.”

“But so far I seem to be doing a pretty lousy job with the task he left me,” Bruce said guiltily. “Tony wouldn’t have told me to get Dr. Cho for Rhodes, because last time Rhodes and Tony prevented the President Ellis’ assassination and Tony didn’t let Rhodes get shot doing it.

“I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet,” Bruce said. “Killian intended for Rhodes to die and now he’s got the President’s ear. I don’t think we can trust any security on Rhodes that isn’t ours.”

“I’ll talk to Dr. Cho,” Pepper said. “After all, it will be much easier to move Rhodey to her lab in Seoul than to bring her equipment here. And J.A.R.V.I.S.? Would it be possible to fabricate a new version of the Mark VII and adapt it to fit Happy.”

“May I recommend the Mark V for guard duty,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “While the Mark VII is designed for rapid deployment in the field, I believe Mr. Hogan may be more comfortable with Mark V’s less automated aspects.”

“Great thought, J,” Happy said. “Pepper, you know I can barely work that cellphone Boss gave me.”

“For now, we’ll get Rhodes out of the country with Happy for protection,” Bruce decided. “I might have seen Tony create fully automated… well not suits. He called them the Iron Legion. They’re limited-”

“You mean I am limited,” J.A.R.V.I.S. corrected.

Bruce polished his glasses reflexively. “J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony designed you to be a friend not a military force. I don’t know that we want to change that. But I think you do have the capability to control a few bodies, with a clearly defined objective such as supporting Happy in keeping Colonel Rhodes safe while the rest of us have deal with Killian.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

“Where the hell have you been?” Natasha demanded when she met Steve at the Portsmouth Shipyards.

“I- I thought things would be quiet for awhile after the Chitauri,” Steve stammered. He couldn’t quite regret saving Bucky but at the same time- _‘Why does fate always extract such a high price for Bucky’s safety?’_

“The President has been assassinated, the former VP is compromised… And have you seen his Cabinet Appointments? Secretary of Defense, General Thaddeus Ross. Secretary of Commerce, Aldrich Killian- If reason prevailed Killian would be under suspicion of concluding with the Mandarin; War Machine was clearly sabotaged by A.I.M.; but he’s being lauded as a hero. Rodriguez has also created a task force to track down any remain Mandarin adherents headed by John Garrett.”

“Who?” Steve asked.

“Former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, former HYDRA mole, who knows where his loyalties lay now. He brought S.H.I.E.L.D. down, revealed that HYDRA had infiltrated us, released all their files online-”

“Isn’t that good?” Steve asked, bewildered.

Natasha’s eyes flashed angrily. “We were dealing with it! Garrett didn’t care how many good agents got hurt, families, civilian associates, he didn’t care. He saw an easy way to clear the field for his new master. What you need to know, Captain America, is that all of Rodriguez’s new appointees have an unhealthy obsession with the Super Soldier Serum.

“Look, we know about what you’ve been up to,” Natasha said abruptly. “Clint’s already tried to remove Rodriguez but Killian’s Enhanced, has a healing factor that puts yours to shame. He took the shot for Rodriguez and was back on his feet before there was even proof. Pierce told us you took the Winter Soldier, we need him.”

“Pierce is HYDRA!” Steve exclaimed.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Natasha said. “He and Fury called a truce. Better the devil you know on both sides. They’ll be back at each other’s throats as soon as Rodriguez- No, Killian is gone. You have the great assassin in history stashed in your back pocket. If the Winter Soldier can’t take Killian no one can.”

“He’s Bucky,” Steve hissed.

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“You have a hell of a lot of nerve,” General Ross said with a snarl when Bruce walked into his office.

“You don’t like me. And frankly, I don’t like you either,” Bruce said. “But I know you: You’d never knowingly work with a terrorist. Betty seconded my evaluation, by the way.” He dropped a stack of files on Ross’ desk. “Killian was behind President Ellis’ assassination. He couldn’t allow Maya Hansen’s research into Extremis to fall under Ellis’ ban because he’s using it and it’s not stable yet. Oh, and Rodriguez’s daughter? She just grew a new leg. By now I imagine Rodriguez knows that he needs Killian’s treatments to keep her from blowing up.”

Bruce turned and walked out.

Ross frowned. Reluctantly he started flipping through the files.

* * *

 

“Will he believe us?” Pepper asked. “If we had solid proof we would have gone to the Secret Service.”

“The evidence that Killian was involved in the assassination is shaky but those early medical records JARVIS… um… acquired make a pretty good case for Killian being an Extremis user,” Bruce said.

“And where my father is concerned the leap from ‘Enhanced’ to ‘threat’ is minuscule,” Betty said. “He’ll help us but we need to watch him like a hawk or he’ll find a way lump Bruce in with Killian.”

“Goes without saying,” Bruce sighed. “You know I’m still surprised that he didn’t try to stop Hulk from leaving after the Abomination went down?”

“But we will still attempt to use Secretary Ross against Killian?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked.

Betty looked pensive. “At least we know that my father’s an honest asshole. As horrible as he is to Bruce, it’s not for personal gain, he really believes that Hulk is a threat.”

“He believes anything that he can’t control is a threat,” Bruce clarified. “I still can’t believe that he was appointed Secretary of State in my timeline.” He turned to Pepper, “The man’s a xenophobe. His initial interest in the Super Soldier Serum was driven by a determination to duplicate Dr. Erskine’s work before ‘America’s enemies’ did. For over twenty years Ross was the driving force in the United State’s part of the Super Soldier arms race.”

“I’d always hated how Dr. Erskine’s research has been perverted, right from the beginning,” Betty said. “The man was trying to end disease and improve healing. But first the Red Skull got ahold of him and tried to turn it to making ‘superior’ humans. When Dr. Erskine fled Germany… Maybe he was trying to counter the misuses his work had already been put to by creating an Allied Super Soldier program, I don’t know. Still, ever since Captain America and the Red Skull became part of the tapestry of our world everything that has been built on what Dr. Erskine began has been about turning humans into engines of war instead of being used to relieve suffering. Bruce and I thought we’d get one over on my dad, we’d make a version of the serum that was purely defensive.”

“It was supposed to make humans less vulnerable to radiation,” Bruce said. “We convinced the military to support our research on the notion of enabling soldiers to survive Nuclear fallout. Our hope was that it would be propagated to the civilian population, reducing the fears associated with nuclear power plants, maybe reducing the occurrence of radiation triggered cancers or enabling the use of more intense radiation in cancer treatments. But the General already had another team working on creating super soldiers and their problem was that the radiation needed to activate their serum inevitably killed the test subject. When I decided to test my serum on myself, Ross decided to make it a two-for-one and slipped that serum into the mix.”

“My father claims it was my injuries that convinced him that the Hulk was a threat,” Betty said. “But I was practically on top of Bruce the first time he transformed. Hulk was confused, hurting… His reaction wasn’t really any worse than those guards panicking and opening fire on him. The difference was that the Hulk turned out to be immune to bullets and the soldiers weren’t so immune to crushing injuries. I got caught in the middle, it was no one’s fault but my dad used it to justify going after the element of the equation that scared him.

“All those years being afraid of what other countries might do if they managed to unlock the secrets of Erskine’s formula first and suddenly Dad realized that he was even more afraid of what the Serum might unlock.”

“Killian may think that General Ross is a kindered soul but I’m offering the ability to shut Extremis down,” Bruce said. “It’s the better offer and after Harlem, after the Abomination I trust Ross to take it, even if it means siding with me.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

“Stark!” Thor exclaimed bursting into the hanger Tony and Nebula had been directed to by Asgard’s gatekeeper. “When you vanished through the portal we feared the worst! I am gladdened to see that it is not so!”

Tony flinched violently as Thor reached out to clasp him in a brotherly hug. And somehow Nebula was there, between Tony and Thor holding out her hand in an awkward approximation of how she’d seen humans greet one another. “I am Nebula, self-emancipated daughter of Thanos,” she declared.

“Gracious lady,” Thor replied bowing over her hand. “I am Thor Odinson of Asgard.” Then Thor leaned around Nebula to make eye contact with Tony, “Man of Iron, are you well?” he asked.

Tony responded with one of his more plastic media-smiles. “It’s been a rough couple of years.”

“Has it been so long?” Thor asked. “It seems but yesterday that we battled alongside one another.” He paused for a moment. “It may reassure you to know that the All-Father condemned Loki to solitary confinement for the rest of his days.”

Tony shook his head. “I got up close and personal with the force behind the Invasion,” he said. “Not saying I forgive your brother for deciding that my world was acceptable collateral damage… But I’m guessing there was a fair bit of coercion going on.”

“Would you speak of this force before returning to Earth?” Thor asked. “...I assume that you have made your way here that the Bifrost may shorten your journey home?”

Tony took a deep breath, “We came to Asgard specifically to speak to Odin All-Father about the threat of Thanos,” he said. “What happened on Earth wasn’t a one off. Dozens- no, hundreds of other planets have faced similar invasions. Thanos is a mad man who seeks the Infinity Stones in order to wipe out half of all life in the Galaxy. We came here because Asgard is strong and we hope Odin will aid our cause. We came because the Tesseract is one of six Infinity Stones and we wanted to be certain Asgard knew to prepare for Thanos to come after it.” Tony looked up at Thor, “I can’t go home and turn my back on a threat like Thanos.

“You told us that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s research into the Tesseract was a signal that the Earth was ready for a higher form of war -Spoiler Alert- We’re not. But even with the Tesseract returned to Asgard, there are two Infinity Stones remaining on Earth and they cannot be allowed to fall into Thanos’ hands. The only way I see of ensure their safety is for us to beat Thanos out here, before he has a chance to acquire any of the Stones.”


	10. Making Contact

**~ Tony ~**

Loki was brought up from the dungeons, his hands chained and attached to a belt around his waist that was connected to more chains, leashes held by four separate guards and only once he was in Odin’s presence was the gag removed from his mouth. Loki didn’t waste time putting his poisoned tongue to use. “To what do I owe this unprecedented honor of a second hearing?” he asked mockingly. “Could it be that the great Odin missed something?”

“Loki!” Odin thundered. “You will tell us what you saw beyond the Void. Where did you acquire the Chitauri? Who is their master and what other resources does he possess?”

“Convince me,” Loki spat. “Convince me, after how I was welcomed home, that I would not get more joy from holding my tongue and watching Asgard burn.”

“You will do as I say!” Odin growled, every inch the furious father.

Nebula stepped forward from the crowd in the throne room, drawing Loki’s eye. She smirked at the faint widening of his eyes and sauntered forwards. “Will you watch my father’s armies arrive sitting in a box?” she asked as she strolled past Loki’s guards. “A present, wrapped up and ready to be delivered?”

Loki flinched minutely but then he looked at Odin and his chin rose stubbornly.

“Do you know how he ‘helped’ me become better when I failed him?” Nebula purred. “Of course I am his daughter and he loved me… What do you think he will do to ‘help’ you?” She stopped a bare hand’s breadth from Loki and whispered in his ear, “Or maybe they will let you watch while they do to your brother what they did to you.”

Loki’s gaze shifted unwillingly to Thor.

“You tell yourself: ‘He’s not like you. He’ll die before he breaks.’ But everyone breaks. He’ll crawl, like you did. Lick the Other’s boots and thank him for unmaking him.”

“I don’t love him,” Loki said hoarsely.

Nebula smiled bitterly. “I don’t love my sister, either.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**  

Steve tried to ignore Natasha watching him with ill-concealed impatience while he made a call. “Bruce,” he said. “I’m sorry for leaving you to deal with Killian on your own. But I’m back now. We’ll figure this out- Together.”

“Um, Steve, I’m grateful,” Bruce said. “But when Extremis users go critical the resultant explosion releases over a megajoule of energy, the pure heat output is in excess of three thousand degrees Celsius. The Hulk was able to survive that sort of abuse, but Steve, you’d be roasted alive.”

“We don’t back down just because something is difficult,” Steve scolded.

“I know I have a bit of a reputation for running away,” Bruce admitted. “But not this time. I know how to handle this. Last time Tony, Dr. Cho and I created a formula to deactivate Extremis for Pepper. Even without Tony’s input, I’m certain Dr. Cho and I can recreate that formula. And while SI might be out of the weapons’ business now, they were the best of the best just a few years ago. Tony made a point of not laying anyone off when he shut that division down; Pepper’s already hand-picked a team to develop a delivery system. Once we’ve got that General Ross will deliver it to the military and then they should have no trouble shutting Killian’s forces down.”

“You’re giving ROSS the means to take their powers?” Steve exclaimed.

“I’m giving Ross the means to deactivate Extremis, which leaves its users dependent on regular injections of a stabilizer or else they explode violently,” Bruce said dryly. “A good percentage of them will probably come to us voluntarily as soon as it’s public knowledge that a cure exists. So- um- as much as I appreciate your offer, I’ve got things in hand and I’m really not sure what you could do to help.”

“You’re getting more like Tony all the time,” Steve said disapprovingly.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Bruce said.

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

 

“There has been a new development,” J.A.R.V.I.S. announced. “Dr. Maya Hansen’s body was found in a San Franciscan parking garage.”

“I wonder what she was doing there,” Bruce said.

“Hank Pym,” Pepper said. “From what Happy remembered, we know Tony helped Maya get over a stumbling block in her research back in 1999. As I understand it Dr. Pym had some sort of rivalry going with Howard Stark back in the day and he likes to imagine that it was passed on to Tony.”

“You think Dr. Hansen was looking for help?” Betty asked.

“Her goal back in ‘99 was miracle healing, not creating a kamikaze army for a made-up terrorist. I think if she could have figured out the stabilization issue on her own we’d be hailing her as the the next Jonas Salk instead dealing with exploding humans,” Pepper said. “I think she realized she was in over her head. Tony helped her before but with him out of reach she turned to his self-proclaimed rival.”

“Not just Justin Hammer?” Bruce asked. “I hear he’s out on bail.”

“I prefer to believe that Tony has better taste than to sleep with someone who could mistake Justin Hammer for a credible scientist,” Pepper replied.

“Where as Pym knew his stuff,” Bruce said. “I’ve read some of his papers. All he really needed to do to actually get on Tony’s radar would have been to stop resting on his laurels. I mean, I was impressed by his work but the man hasn’t made a significant contribution to the scientific community since 1987.”

“Then I guess the question is: Did she make to Hank Pym’s door before the Mandarin caught up with her,” Betty said. “If she did, she might have given Dr. Pym some evidence against Killian.”

“If Killian even thinks she talked to him, Pym might be in danger,” Pepper said. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I might have a business proposition for Pym Tech. Although Dr. Pym is semi-retired, I might end up having to go through his daughter or his successor, Darren Cross.”

* * *

**~ Steve ~**

For a moment, as he followed Natasha into the underground bunker that was S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new headquarters, Steve flashed back to his rounds of the Enlistment Centers, _‘What do I do if this doesn’t work out?’_ blending into _‘What do I do if they don’t take me?’_ He’d felt so powerless back then, constantly bombarded with messages about how it was everyone’s duty to do their part to help win the war but turned away when he tried. So worthless, _‘The world needs everyone… But not you.’_

“You found our truant?” Clint remarked as he fell in beside Natasha. He glanced at the Soldier closely flanking Steve and his eyes widened minutely. “I thought you were trying to pull my leg Nat, but wow- It’s your ghost story in the flesh.” He jerked a thumb in Natasha’s direction then asked the Soldier, “So you shot through her to get your target. Was it intentional or just luck that you didn’t hit anything critical?”

“I did not have orders to kill her,” the Soldier stated.

Clint went to clap him on the shoulder then thought better of it. “Good man,” he said.

“Asset,” the Soldier corrected and Steve winced.

“It takes time to remember how to feel like a person,” Natasha empathized. “Do… you remember anything else about me?”

The Soldier’s gaze flickered over her assessingly. “You called me ‘Yasha’. They ordered me to rip off three of your fingernails when you got caught,” he said flatly.

Natasha swallowed reflexively then nodded.

As they continued deeper into the base Steve picked out Pierce’s gently reproving voice coming from the room ahead of them, “Nick, admit it: We wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t sabotaged Project: Insight.”

“I’ll admit _I_ wouldn’t be worrying about Killian if Insight had launched. Dead men don’t worry about much after all,” Fury replied sounding more amused than angry.

Steve squared his shoulders as if preparing to go into battle then marched into the room. Natasha, Clint and the Soldier followed after him. “Fury, I thought you learned after what S.H.I.E.L.D.’s meddling with the Tesseract brought on us,” Steve declared with deep disapproval. “But now you’re expecting Bucky to kill someone. We’re supposed to be better than that.”

“Better than what?” Clint asked. He made a finger-gun, “I know it’s hard to believe, but S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t hire me for my looks.”

“To _assassinate_ the U.S. president!” Steve continued. His voice, full of outrage, rose, “After everything Bucky’s been through, you’d go on using him just like HYDRA did?”

“The president is compromised,” Fury stated. “An unhinged mass murderer is pulling his strings. For the general good he has to be removed.”

“How do you expect the Winter Soldier to clear his leger if not by using the skills at his disposal?” Natasha asked with a small frown.

Steve leveled a dark glare at Pierce, “It wasn’t Bucky, it was HYDRA.”

“It’s not that simple,” Natasha said, “I would know.” She glanced over at Fury, a hint of censure in her eyes. “Speaking of the Red Room, why hasn’t SHIELD sent their knockoff?”

“Ms. Starr is a special case,” Fury defended.

Pierce chuckled to himself, “Isn’t that always the case with someone useful?”

“Her powers would seem to lend themselves to the current situation,” Natasha said mildly. She nodded towards Steve. “And without the current fuss.”

“She and her handler vanished during the chaos in the first twelve hours following Garrett’s data dump,” Fury admitted sourly.

“Along with Loki’s scepter,” Pierce remarked. “Although I suspect one of my colleagues is behind that; getting out of the States before complete chaos descends. Ms. Starr may have done the same or simply realized that S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to offer her. That was one of our little secrets wasn’t it Nick?”

“You and your secrets,” Steve spat. “I don’t know why I’m even surprised that you’d sink to working with HYDRA.”

“There’s a mad man in control of both the White House and the current top terrorist threat-” Fury began.

Steve pointed at Peirce, “How does that make Killian different from him?”

“Our enemies are your enemies, Captain Rogers,” Pierce said. “We may place a different relative value on things like ‘freedom’ versus ‘security’ or the rights of the individual versus the good of society but Aldrich Killian creates a threat with one hand and disarms it with the another then claims to have made the world safer. You and I know that there are real enemies out there: disorder, war. And they’ll go unchecked under the stewardship of a man like Aldrich Killian.”

“ _You_ are the real enemy,” Steve declared. He turned to Fury, “We can’t make compromises with evil! Don’t you see that?”

Fury shook his head, “Alexander Pierce isn’t anything so simple as ‘evil’. Did you know? He declined the Nobel Peace Prize, said ‘Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility’.”

Pierce nodded. “I still stand behind that. You may disagree with the methods I’ve embraced by my goals are rock solid.”

Fury continued speaking to Steve without acknowledging Pierce, “But ‘good’ pushed to an extreme isn’t good any more. Everything in balance. Captain America didn’t win WWII but you prevented the Red Skull from winning it. S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, we hold each other in check. But Killain’s an invasive species, trying to fool the world into thinking that he’s his own natural predator. He has to be uprooted now, before he gets too good a foot-hold.”

“If we deal with Killian, HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. will still be there afterwards to settle our differences,” Pierce said. “But Killian is making moves to eradicate us both. He has no philosophy, no code, no cause beyond himself. I have a daughter, Captain. I want to leave this world a better place, for her. You and I might disagree on what ‘better’ might look like but should I win there will be a world when I leave it. Aldrich Killian would not make you that same promise.”

* * *

**~ Tony ~**

Once Loki had confirmed everything Tony and Nebula had told the All-Father about Thanos. Odin ordered Loki’s guards out, along with the leash-like chains they’d used to restrain him, but left his youngest in handcuffs.

“We will stand fast,” Odin declared. “The armies of Asgard retreat before no foe.”

“Thanos will send five thousand Outriders as a vanguard,” Nebula said.

“Berserkers,” Loki translated unobtrusively, for Odin’s benefit.

Odin raised his chin, a set, stubborn look on his face and Tony considered looking for a wall to bash his head against but as he looked around Frigga caught his eye and gave him a tiny secret smile. “Of course, Asgard’s armies will not be moved,” she said. “However, we will arrange for the civilian population to evacuate. To the Stronghold or possibly even Alfheim.”

She glanced towards Thor who had begun to fidget subtly. “Unless? When do you believe the unrest on Vanaheim will be quelled, my son?”

Thor straightened proudly. “The last of the Marauders will be in custody within a lunar cycle,” he declared.

“Then Vanaheim,” Frigga said with a decisive nod. The matter of the civilian evacuation closed, Frigga turned to Tony, “Now, Master Armorsmith, you mentioned having collected data on Thanos?”

“I did,” Tony confirmed.

“Would you consent to examining the palace’s shields and beam cannons to see how they might be modified to match any vulnerabilities he might have?” Frigga requested. “I will assign several seiðkona,” she glanced at Loki thoughtfully, “or seiðmenn to familiarize you with our technology.”

A broad grin lit Tony’s face, “It would be my genuine pleasure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve Rogers, the tactical genius who’s only idea of how to react when the military rejected his application was to change his address and ask a second (third, fourth and fifth) recruiter if they wanted a guy who didn’t meet the minimum height and weight requirements, who had household TB exposure, asthma, and a laundry list of other medical problems… Without a Phillips, a S.H.I.E.L.D., a Tony or a T'Challa to support him, he doesn't really have any idea of how to move forward.


	11. Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jane’s information about the Mandarin is far from complete. When she says ‘The Mandarin’ she means Trevor not Killian, Tony doesn’t know that so he’s assured that everything is working out okay back on Earth. And, notably, he is busy.

**~ Tony ~**

“Oh my gosh! Tony Stark!!” Jane Foster exclaimed, breaking away from Thor.

“Dr. Foster, a pleasure,” Tony said bowing over her hand while shooting a smirk at the disgruntled Thor before directing Jane’s attention to Nebula. “Lady Terminator and I are trying to deal with a building storm before it hits Earth. And I hear you’re having a run in with an aspect of that: the Reality Stone.”

“The what?” Jane asked.

“They call it the Aether here,” Nebula stated

“They’re picky about terminology,” Jane confided. She turned back to Tony, ““Everyone on Earth thinks you’re dead! Well, not Ms. Potts but your Board is being a bunch of assholes to her because of it.”

“So the Board’s getting ideas? Well, Pepper’ll put ‘em in their place soon enough.” Tony hesitated then asked, “You hear anything else about her or Rhodey- Colonel Rhodes, in the news?”

“There was something about Colonel Rhodes getting hurt taking down a terrorist, the Mandarin I think,” Jane said. When Tony paled she quickly added, “Ms. Potts rescued him, in your armor and everything. And I think the Hulk was helping out. I’m sorry I don’t know more. It was a U.S. thing and I’ve been living in London.”

Tony relaxed. “Is it bad that the image of Pepper in my armor gets me hot?” he babbled. “Brucie-Bear and Big Green came through, that’s- Yeah.” he grinned. “Nothing about Rogers? Well, it’s not like I expected him to go out of his way to help with my problems or anything. What’d you wanna bet that he doesn’t even get started on making the Avengers legal until he’s got his human security blanket squirreled away somewhere? Shuri remembers, she ought to be able to work her magic again.” Tony gave himself a shake, “But you’ve got an Infinity Stone running through your veins, you’ve got more important things on your mind than geriatric toddlers.”

Jane’s face fell, “Odin says he doesn’t know how to get it out.”

“My father doesn’t know everything,” Thor assured her as Frigga walked up with Loki at her side, his restraints reduced to a Seiðr-restraining collar around his neck.

Loki put on an expression of extreme shock at Thor’s words. “Do my ears deceive me? Has Muspelheim froze over?” he asked. “Did YOU just say-”

“Jane Foster, please meet Queen Frigga of Asgard, my mother,” Thor said. “And my brother, Loki.”

Jane drew back and slapped Loki across the face. “That was for New York,” she declared.

Thor winced. “I should probably have led with: There was more to the Invasion than met the eye,” he said.

Jane flushed. She glanced at Frigga, then back to Loki who was rubbing his cheek and grinning devilishly. “Oh… I’m sorry,” she said. “I- Really, really sorry.”

“Don’t be, he did throw me through a window,” Tony said before turning to Loki with an eager look. “So, you ready to try educating me about Asgardian tech Reindeer Games?”

“As it keeps me from my cell,” Loki said in a bored tone.

Jane’s eyes darted indecisively between Thor and Frigga and Tony, Loki and Nebula for a moment, then settled on Tony. “Can I come along?” she asked. “Did you know they have functional, practically applied quantum field generators here?”

“No. You hit me,” Loki said petulantly.

“And you ripped a guy’s eyeball out,” Tony pointed out. “I know you were under duress but was that really necessary? You couldn’t have just whammied him and TOLD to open the vault for you?”

“If I had, you might not have noticed the theft,” Loki replied. He sighed deeply, “I suppose she can come. I tutored Thor for centuries and even a- What did Odin call you? A goat can hardly be a worse student than my idiot brother.”

A smile crept across Thor’s face at Loki calling him brother but Frigga slapped his arm before he could draw attention to Loki’s slip of the tongue. “Enjoy your meeting of the minds,” she ordered fondly.

* * *

**  
~ Steve ~**

Steve woke up to the sight of an empty bunk across from him. He sighed and glanced toward the nearest corner expecting to see the Soldier slumped there, asleep on his feet; convincing him that it was okay to sleep in a bed was a work in progress; only the corner was as empty as the bed. Heart pounding in his chest Steve rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom, “Bucky?” he called through the door. When there was no response he burst in to find another empty room.

 _‘I shouldn’t have trusted Fury, shouldn’t have stayed in a S.H.I.E.L.D. base. But what else could I do? Let Bucky steal for us? Or-’_ Steve winced, all of the Soldier’s suggestions for dealing with their lack of resources had been illegal to say the least and most of them had been bloody. In the end Steve had given in and, against his better judgement, accepted a room from S.H.I.E.L.D. _‘Now Bucky’s gone. I knew we shouldn’t have stayed here, not with HYDRA all over the place.’_

Steve grabbed up his shield and ran out into the base still in his sleep-pants, desperate to find the Soldier before HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D. or anyone else could hurt him. Only a few feet from the door he screeched to an abrupt stop as he heard the Soldier’s voice order gruffly, “Tell me exactly what you saw when you shot Killian.”

“My bolt hit him in the shoulder, would have shattered the clavicle, maybe nicked the top of a lung but probably not,” Clint replied. Steve followed their voices around the corner. “He turned, yanked it right out. No worries about doing more damage or even leaving the tip behind. His arm glowed red around the injury site, bright enough that I could see it through his jacket. Rodriguez didn’t look shocked. I could see unmarred skin through the hole in Killian’s shirt within thirty seconds of the bolt’s removal when he jammed the bolt into the wall. Then they called the Secret Service in. He made a decent guess as to where it would have ended up if no one had been in its way, forensics will probably buy his version of what happened.”

“You should have used a rifle,” the Soldier stated.

“Not my thing,” Clint said.

“Armor piercing bullet would have gone clean through and hit your target. And, Archer, you signed the job by using a bow,” the Soldier disagreed.

“I don’t like through-and-throughs,” Clint said. “Don’t like having to worry about where a bullet goes after it hits the target.”

“What are you doing?!?” Steve demanded as he rounded the corner and yanked the Soldier away from Clint.

The Soldier didn’t resist Steve’s manhandling. “Need to know if head shot is good or if I should use a high enough caliber to functionally decapitate him,” he said.

“You’re not going to assassinate the President,” Steve exclaimed.

“No,” the Soldier agreed. “Just Killian.”

“You’re not going to kill anyone,” Steve shouted.

“You killed the Winter Core and Killian is a more immediate threat,” the Soldier disagreed.

“You can’t,” Steve protested.

“You’re a good handler,” the Soldier declared abruptly. Then a convoluted expression crossed his face, “No, you’re a crap handler but I- It’s good. Absolutely shitty in a good way: Letting me call the shots. Not wanting me to kill. Trying to give me a name- like the red-head did. But handlers are easier to replace than top assets, they won’t have me tear out your fingernails to teach you better.”

Steve shook his head, “Bucky, you don’t know what you’re saying. I can’t just let you-”

“I remember you- Somehow,” the Soldier cut him off. “Remember you never had a clue about which hills were worth dying on. Your superior's talking sense: The guy needs to die. I can make it happen. Let me make this call.”

* * *

  **~ Tony ~**

“While we’re at it, how does this planet even work,” Jane demanded. “From what I’ve seen it’s just a chunk of standard rocky crust, nothing exotically dense, but the gravity matches Earth’s... Without the mass to generate it.”

“And the constantly falling water,” Tony added. “How do you have a water cycle when you’re losing billions of gallons to space every minute.”

Loki gave them a smug look but before he could say anything a massive explosion shook the palace.

Nebula fell into a defensive stance, a pair of batons appearing as if by magic in her hands. Tony tapped the Arc Reactor set in his chest and a swarm of nanites emerged from it, wrapping around him to form Iron Man’s red and gold armor.

“Elsa, how defensiveness are you with that thing?” Tony asked nodding toward the collar around Loki’s neck.

Loki gave Tony a fierce glare. “I may not be a muscle-bound brute like Thor but I am still Aesir,” he said as he took a polearm from one of the armor suits lining the hall.

* * *

  **~ Bruce ~**

Happy frowned suspiciously as he stood in blocking the door to Rhodes’ recovery room in Dr. Cho’s facility in Seoul. “You have ID’s?” he demanded gruffly.

General Ross and an older woman in an Air Force uniform promptly produced their ID’s. Bruce Banner fumbled with his wallet for a moment before following suit.

When they’d satisfied Happy and been admitted Rhodes straighten a bit in his bed and saluted.

“Colonel Rhodes, Major General Mackenzie with Judge Advocate General’s division,” Ross introduced the woman. He smirked a bit, “As the body you were found lying next to has been tentatively identified as the terrorist calling himself the Mandarin, I expect this to be little more than a formality but we can’t be seen treating it lightly when a member of the US military kills a man outside of a recognized war zone.”

“ _You’re_ playing good cop?” Bruce blurted out.

“Of course not,” Rhodes agreed, ignoring Bruce’s outburst. “And naturally you would investigate the use of the War Machine armor in President Ellis’ assassination. In the interest cooperating fully, I need to inform you that the man shot with my sidearm was not the Mandarin.”

Major General Mackenzie took out a tape recorder and requested. “Could you elaborate on that: You say the body found at the Mandarin’s stronghold in Plantation Key was NOT the Mandarin?”

“Image matching software has confirmed with ninety-eight percent certainty that he is the person who appeared in the Mandarin Broadcasts,” Ross said. “We still haven’t figured out who he really is. Plastic surgery, dental surgery, fingerprint removal…”

Rhodes nodded, unsurprised. “He made the Broadcasts but he was only a front for the real Mandarin. As I reported immediately before my capture, the supposed Mandarin Stronghold in Beirut was a sweatshop. But it turned out that there was one of the Mandarin’s enhanced soldiers there, waiting for me. She grabbed my arm and the armor locked up. I could feel the servos revving but the gears jammed, I suspect A.I.M. tampered with my armor while they were painting it.”

“A.I.M.? The think tank founded by Secretary of Commerce Aldrich Killian?” Mackenzie asked.

“That is correct, Ma’am,” Rhodes replied. “Other than myself and cleared personnel at SI, no one else has had access to the armor since Tony cleared it of all malware installed during the Hammer/Vanko incident.”

“And now, shortly after once again being ordered to trust the armor to a secondary contractor, it betrayed you,” Mackenzie said. “Do you know if Dr. Maya Hansen was part of the Iron Patriot rebranding or did you ever see her during your captivity?”

“No,” Rhodes said clearly. “I never heard Maya Hansen’s name until I woke up in the hospital.”

“What happened after your armor was compromised?” Mackenzie asked.

“They locked me and the armor into some sort of restraints. Then they stuck me in a box,” Rhodes said with a touch of outrage. “They transported me by plane, according to my systems the flight lasted fourteen and a half hours. It felt like an eternity, trapped in the armor, unable to move. I learned later that Pepper found me the Florida Keys. Once they got me to their stronghold they stuck me in a sauna, armor and all. Eventually I had to abandon the armor before I passed out from dehydration. I attempted to fight my way out with my sidearm but… Needless to say I lost. Without the armor I’m not capable of taking on three fire-breathing Enhanced.”

“Was that when you shot the man you say was acting as a ‘face’ for the Mandarin?” Mackenzie asked.

Rhodes shook his head, “I was recaptured and one of the Mandarin’s men assumed control of my armor. Later I overheard the Mandarin’s Lieutenant -Brandt, I think her name was- talking on the phone. After Brandt hung up she turned to me. She said, ‘Lucky you, you’re going to die a hero.’ Then they brought in the man we’d seen on TV as the Mandarin. She shot him with my gun then took a second weapon and shot me. That’s all I remember until the waking up in the hospital.”

“We will follow up on everything you’ve told us, Colonel Rhodes,” Mackenzie promised.

“Thank you, Colonel,” Ross added. “You’re testimony has been highly informative. I wish you a speedy recovery. It is my hope that you’ll be well enough to return to the U.S. and to duty soon.”

“Ms. Potts has assured me that Stark Industries is willing and able to rebuild my armor,” Rhodes confirmed.

“Good to hear,” Ross said. He gestured for Mackenzie to turn off her recorder. “And I’m not just saying that for the publicity.”

“General Ross, no offense but you’re not what I was expecting,” Rhodes said with a glance towards Bruce.

“Well, Harlem happened,” Ross sighed. “I had to turn the monster I was chasing loose in hopes that he was a better man than the monster I’d just created.” He gave Bruce a small nod of acknowledgement, “And, despite my personal beliefs, he proved that he was. Even so I don’t like depending on untrained civilians in combat scenarios- No matter how well-intentioned or powerful they might be. You, Colonel Rhodes, are the only actual professional we’ve got among the Enhanced at this time.”

“But- What about Captain Rogers?” Rhodes asked in confusion.

Ross snorted, “I’ll give Stark one thing: He never tried to hide his lack of qualification behind a stage name.”

Rhodes looked more lost than ever.

“Right, all you’ve seen is the propaganda.” Ross shook his head, “When I took charge of the U.S. attempt to recreate Erskine’s formula I was given access to his real records. Rogers was given the formula as soon as he scraped through basic. As everyone knows, Erskine succeeded but was murdered moments later. After that the USO scooped Rogers up and there is no record of him receiving any further military training.”

“Basic?” Rhodes exclaimed in disbelief. “That’s it?”

“But, he had field experience,” Bruce interjected.

“Even in a war you don’t go from E-1 to Captain on a field promotion,” Mackenzie said.

“And Command Training isn’t just blowing hot air,” Rhodes added.

“Exactly,” Ross said. “Rogers was overseas doing a poorly received troop morale tour when he learned that his childhood friend Sgt. James Barnes had been kidnapped. With aid from Howard Stark and Margaret Carter, Rogers went after Barnes; I’d say Rogers went against orders but that would presume the man was in the military command structure to start with. Rogers had no plans for getting himself or Barnes back to Allied territory, let alone the hundred plus POWs that he found along with Barnes, but he got lucky. To capitalize on Rogers’ lucky break Colonel Phillips and Senator Brandt formed the Howling Commandos from a small subset of the rescued POWs, ones who were in deemed to be in good condition, with plenty of combat experience. Phillips set their objectives and they more or less ran themselves in the field. They took the USO show Rogers had been doing and made it… Well more Reality TV than reality. From Phillips’ notes Rogers isn’t _bad_ if he’s given a clear objective and isn’t asked to make any sort of risk analysis before proceeding.”

“Not command material,” Rhodes translated.

“Not military material,” Ross corrected. “Like I said, the primary difference between Stark and Rogers is Stark didn’t try to fool anyone about what he was: A highly gifted, civilian contractor… But Stark’s an engineer, you can talk to him about risk analysis and cost-benefit trade off; it’s his language, he gets it. Rogers can’t be reasoned with, he has to be managed. Phillips’ notes were perfectly clear: Rogers has to be fed the information in such a way that he’ll come to the desired conclusion. If he doesn’t think it’s his idea he balks… Don't let the old fashion manners fool you, based on Phillips' notes, he was a real diva.”

Rhodes waited until Ross had left then asked Bruce, “You think that shit’s for real? That Rogers really only ever completed basic? It wouldn’t have been regular but, um, could Phillips have finished his training in the field?”

Bruce thought for a moment, “I wasn’t given access to any sort of personality profile on Steve Rogers when I was working for Ross but it does explain Natasha’s inclusion in the Avengers Initiative.” He grimaced, “Beyond trying to control the Hulk by seducing me. Her background it tailor-made for the sort of ‘steering’ Ross was talking about. Only, in my timeline, the whole SHIELDRA mess shook her confidence and she decided to make Steve her Polestar instead of her mission.”

“Isn’t that a kick in the pants?” Rhodes shook his head, “You know I went into the military because of that guy? Well, I probably wouldn’t have bothered with a Masters, wouldn’t ended up at MIT and wouldn’t have met Tony, without the military so it worked out okay. But damn!”

“Don’t meet your heroes,” Bruce quoted.

* * *

**~ Tony ~**

Tony kept Jane behind him as Nebula and Loki fought a horde of Jason wannabes. He fired a quick blast to divert a grenade back into their ranks. “Ooh that’s gotta hurt,” he remarked as the micro-black hole that erupted from the grenade ripped several of them apart.

Nebula charged forward and dropped to one knee, taking down two of the Dark Elves with her staves. Loki spun on his heel and decapitated another who’d come up on their flank. “We could do this all day and not be at the end of them,” Nebula snapped. “We need a plan.”

“Fall back toward the Weapon’s Vault,” Loki offered. “Odin will be making a stand there.”

“Point the way Rudolph,” Tony said, nudging Jane back as he fired repulsors into the crowd opposing them.

Together the three of them cut a swath through the invading army as they made their way to the vaults. Until, just a floor short of their goal, they found Malekith and his Kursed barring their way. Malekith stared past Loki, Nebula and Tony. “You have taken something, child,” he said to Jane. “Give it back.”

“How ‘bout: No, Cenobite-reject,” Tony said firing one of his missiles.

The Kursed stepped in front of Malekith and casually backhanded the missile away. When it exploded it took out a large chunk of hallway, sealing off any possibility of retreat.

Nebula and Loki traded a look and attacked the Kursed. They tried to drive him away from Malekith to give Tony a clean shot at the Dark Elves’ ruler. Malekith smiled toothily and drew his sword. Before long it was Loki and Nebula who were on the defensive against the pair. Tony gritted his teeth with frustration. The Arc Reactor set in his chest and his electric blue eyes pulsed as he kept himself between the fight and Jane. With his allies in such close proximity to his targets he couldn’t risk more than the occasional low powered pot-shot.

The Kursed caught Loki with a heavy blow to the chest. Tony yanked Jane out of the way as Loki flew past them and slammed into the mound of rubble behind them.

In the vault below the Tesseract’s glow came into sync with Tony.

“Now!” Nebula shouted. She threw herself under Malekith’s sword and wrapped her arms over her head as Tony fired the Unibeam.

Malekith caught a glancing blow from the beam, it sent him skidding across the floor. The Kursed met the blast head on, he staggered back a few steps then brought up crossed arms and pressed upstream.

“Shit!” Tony swore as the beam cut out.

The Kursed smiled nastily and charged.

Nebula grabbed the Kursed by the ankle. He fell to the floor then twisted and kicked her in the head.

“No!” Tony shouted, blasting forward as the Kursed straddled Nebula and raised a chunk of rubble. Tony drove his shoulder into the Kursed’s gut, all thrusters firing and ripped him off Nebula.

She rolled, just dodging the rubble as it dropped.

As he flew backwards the Kursed struck Tony in the back with joined fists, sending him to floor.

Nebula threw one of her batons into his face.

Behind them Malekith stood, one side of his face was a mess of road-rash. His eyes alight with hate he advanced on Jane.

Loki stood unsteadily. “You know, I’m tempted to let you have her- It,” he said as he raised his polearm. “If only to keep it from Thanos.”

“No!” Jane cried in alarm. A wave of power erupted from the Aether running through her veins. Tony fired off a hastily repulsor blast at Malekith’s back. For a moment the two energies intersected. A mist of red funneled up the repulsor beam to wrap around Tony, his eyes blazed blue, the Aether flared in response and portals opened beneath Jane and Loki, Nebula and Tony, swallowing them.

When Tony’s vision cleared he was standing in front of the Tesseract. Nanites from his armor streamed down his arm to form a bridge to the Tesseract. They consumed the ancient artifact and the Space Stone floated free. It hovered in front of Tony for several seconds then zoomed forward to merge with the Arc Reactor in his chest.

“Oh, Odin is be overjoyed by this development,” Loki remarked sarcastically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does MCU HYDRA make any sense? I mean sure, their catch phrase is cut off one head and two more grow, but the different branches seem to lack a unifying theme. There's Red Skull and Nazi-Germany associated HYDRA, Strucker's branch seems like the most likely direct descendant of the Red Skull's branch. There's also the branch of HYDRA associated with running the Winter Soldier, which is more U.S.S.R-Communist (Stalin fought AGAINST Germany in WWII). And, of course over on AoS you've got Gideon Malick's branch of HYDRA which seemed to predate WWII and worshipped an ancient Inhuman as a god, and didn't seem to have any real political connections. Not to mention the Grant Wards, John Garricks, etc who are just in it for their own personal gain with no political ideology to be seen.
> 
> Anyway, HYDRA being both Fascist and Communist gives me a headache. Maybe the worshippers of an ancient alien who happen to use ANY political ideology to advance their weird cult makes the most sense.


	12. The Enemy You Know

**~ Steve ~**

Steve tried to force himself to relax as he jogged around the National Mall searching for a familiar face. _‘Bucky promised that he wouldn’t shoot anyone… Today.’_

He did a couple more laps. _‘Where is Sam? Didn’t he jog here every morning? Maybe that PTSD group stuff he did could help Bucky. Bucky really hasn’t been himself lately.’_ Steve sighed and stopped to stretch. He tried not to be too obvious about checking out the other joggers.

_‘What if Sam doesn’t live in DC yet?'_ Steve thought. _‘What if he’s still active duty? What if Riley hasn’t died yet?’_

That thought jerked Steve off stride. _‘I don’t know when Riley died. What kind of friend am I? The most important person in Sam’s life and all I know is that he lost him.’_

Steve started to run again, gradually picking up speed as he fell into his rhythm. _‘Bucky and I can save Riley. I don’t know much about the mission but- But I can back calculate it. When I met Sam, how long it takes to get trained for that Counciling stuff he was doing. Did it take long for Sam to decide to get involved?’_

_‘Maybe- Maybe- That ‘resume’ Sam gave me, I remember how long he was with the PJ’s- How long did it take him to realize he didn’t want to stay in the service after Riley- No, No it must have been his last mission, second to last at most. I can get Natasha- Or Bruce- He was sort of stand-offish last time but it’s about saving a life, Sam’s best friend, he’ll understand. I know the date, he can hack the military’s database, or communications. When we hit the dangerous period, Bruce can let me know about any mission Sam and Riley are sent on. Then Bucky and I’ll shadow them. With Bucky’s sniper training he’ll be able to pick out where the RPG must have come from, we’ll stop the shot from ever being fired. And- saving a life instead of killing, it’ll remind Bucky of who he really is… And get us the hell away from here.’_

Steve frowned a little at the runner in front of him. He was pretty sure he’d lapped the guy once or twice before but this time the guy refusing to be passed, pushing himself so hard that Steve found himself worrying a for the guy. Steve pulled up a bit, slowing to a pace that didn’t require Enhancement to hold for more than a few minutes. Three breathes later the guy spun on his heel and took a wild swing at Steve. “Don’t fucking patronize me!” he growled as Steve jerked back in shock.

Steve almost didn’t recognize Sam, the air man’s face was twisted with anger but his eyes were endless pits of misery. Sam lunged forward. Steve twisted and Sam’s fist flew harmlessly past Steve’s nose.

Sam stumbled, having thrown his whole weight into the blow and Steve caught him. “Easy,” Steve said.

“Fuck off,” Sam wheezed as the run started really catching up with him.

It was on the tip of Steve’s tongue to demand “What is wrong with you?” then it hit him: Riley was dead, recently dead.

Afterwards Steve couldn’t have said exactly how he dealt with the police officer who noticed the scuffle or how he convinced Sam to let him take him to the VA center where Sam would work in a different life or, possibly, in another year. One though just kept pounding through his head, _‘I’m too late. I let Riley die. How can I ever face Sam?’_

“Bye Sam,” Steve whispered sadly as he watched Sam disappear in the VA center. “I’m sorry, sorry I was too late.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

“Loki, what have you done now?” Sif accused as she, Fandral and Volstagg arrived in the Vault on Thor’s heels.

Loki pressed a hand to his heart. “Why am I always subject to such baseless slander?”

“Because you’re always guilty,” Fandral laughed. “If not of the crime you’ve been accused of then of some other yet undiscovered.”

Odin and Frigga arrived. “I did nothing,” Loki declared sullenly, gaze straying toward the All-Father.

“Loki, you are found in the Vaults of Asgard and you expect us to believe there is an innocent explanation?” Fandral shook his head grinning broadly.

“He is the one in possession of the Tesseract’s Heart,” Loki pointed to Tony.

“It came to me,” Tony said quickly. His hand covered the Arc Reactor set in his chest defensively. “And I’ll be happy to give it back just as soon as I’ve got the backup Reactor from Nebs’ ship.”

Odin frowned darkly. “Allow you aboard your ship so that you may make good your escape? It was interest in the Tesseract that brought you here. How do I know that you are not Thanos’ agents?”

“Because you’re supposed to be smart?” Nebula suggested. She stepped closer to Tony, casually resting one of her batons on her shoulder. “If we were Thanos’ -Before all else Thanos would execute us both for attempting to steal the Tesseract rather than simply razing your world and taking it from the ruins.- But assuming Thanos’ forces did stoop to theft, why would we spin a tale involving our lord’s name and the object we intended to steal.”

“Well-” Loki began but Tony cut him off. “Look this is all ridiculous. I didn’t come to take the Space Stone and I’m happy to give it back. So why don’t I stay here, safe and sound in your nice little vault- Um it is safe right? We’re not quarreling about this while Asgard is still being invaded by horror movie rejects?”

“The Dark Elves have been repelled,” Thor confirmed.

Tony nodded. “So I’ll stay here, in your vault where you can keep an eye on me. And Nebula will go back to her ship, retrieve my spare Arc Reactor. I’ll trade it out, return your property and the Space Stone never leaves your vault. Is that good by everyone?”

“No,” Nebula stated. “What assurance do I have that they will not attempt to rip it from your chest by force the moment you are left without allies.”

“You dare question the honor of Asgard?” Odin thundered.

Jane raised her hand tentatively, “You did question their honor first. And neither Loki nor I are associated with the two of them. We saw the whole thing, so you might try asking us what happened?”

“I know all I need to: They are lesser species meddling with things beyond their ken,” Odin said scowling.

“Father,” Thor protested. “I fought alongside Man of Iron. To secure our victory he cast himself into the teeth of our foes and has only returned after enduring much hardship. He has more than earned the benefit of a doubt.”

“I will accompany Lady Nebula back to her ship,” Frigga decided. She turned to Nebula, “Does that satisfy you?”

“Frigga,” Odin protested.

“You intend no harm to Man of Iron and I trust our son’s judgment of character,” Frigga declared. “This is nothing more than opportunity to become better acquainted with the warriors who fought alongside our youngest to deny Malekith and his Dark Elves their prize.”

Odin grimaced, “Of course, my Queen.”

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

Pepper dropped bonelessly into a couch in her office.

“Bad meeting?” Betty asked as she and Bruce pulled up a pair of chairs.

“For a moment I could have sworn I was talking to Obadiah Stane,” Pepper declared. “Cross is just lucky I didn’t try to attack him with my shoe.”

“So that’s why you wear those things,” Bruce remarked. “Weapons. I knew it wasn’t for walking.”

“I take you weren’t able to warn Dr. Pym or find out if Dr. Hansen made contact with him before she was murdered?” Betty asked.

Pepper shook her head, “I fed Cross a line about a joint project to show that the bad blood between our two companies is a thing of the past… With a little luck Pym will be excited enough that SI’s even acknowledging his one-sided feud that he’ll reach out; to say go to Hell personally if nothing else.”

“I hope I can offer something better than counting on Hank Pym’s spite,” Bruce said. “The cure for Extremis is finished.”

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

Tony felt absurdly grateful when Nebula personally carried in his spare Arc Reactor, cradling it protectively against her side and giving the Einherjar and rest the Asgardian court threatening glares whenever they showed too much curiosity about it. Tony had built the spare in the first week after the Time Stone did it’s thing, when the reality of the Arc Reactor being back in his chest bled into his nightmares about Siberia. _‘It should be me understanding her,’ Tony thought. “Comparatively I’ve got nothing to complain about. It was only once for me and Yinsen did it to save my life. Thanos ripped out parts of her over and over again and for no reason beyond him saying she wasn’t good enough.’_

Still he had to bite back the urge to ask for a little privacy as he went to pull off his shirt. _‘Forty-eight months with the goddamn thing in my chest and only three people got to see me change the core, got to see how invasive it was: Yinsen, Pepper and Rhodey. No one else- Well, Obie but he doesn’t count, I didn’t LET him do a damn thing. Now practically the whole Asgardian court’s assembled like it’s some sort of trick for their amusement.’_

He went to twist the core now holding the Space Stone to unlock it from Reactor and- Nothing. “What the?” Tony wiggled it a bit as he craned his neck to try to get a better look at the device set into his chest. “Anybody got a mirror, the mechanism is jammed or something. This never happened, not even when the old Palladium cores were basically melting inside me as they burnt out.”

Odin frowned.

“May I?” Frigga asked stretching a hand toward the spare Reactor.

Tony eyed Odin’s thunderous expression then reluctantly nodded.

“Hmm,” Frigga declared after a few moments. She brought the spare Reactor close to Tony. When something from the Reactor in his chest reached out and drained the glow from the spare she nodded, unsurprised.

“What just happened?” Tony demanded. “That isn’t possible.”

“Like calls to like,” Frigga declared. She turned to Odin. “These ‘Arc Reactors’ have the same Seidr signature to them as the Tesseract. I suspect that the Master Armorsmith did nothing more than use the Reactor in close proximity to the Tesseract and the Stone within it did the rest. You know Infinity Stones are willful things,” she reminded the All-Father. “I also imagine that, like the Aether, the Tesseract’s Heart has its means of defending its choices.”

Odin nodded, “We should determine what has occurred before making any decisions.”

“Back to the Quantum Field Generator/Soulforge?” Jane asked.

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

“Steve,” the name sounded uncomfortable in the Soldier’s mouth, as if it’s only Steve’s orders that keep him from greater formality. “Mission’s gone out of parameter. Need orders.”

With his heart in his throat Steve ran for his bike. “Sit rep?” he demanded as he wove through traffic at a reckless speed.

“Killian’s being arrested,” the Soldier reported. “I don’t understand. How do I respond?”

“The police won’t stand a chance against someone like Killian,” Steve said. “They’re going to need you to save them.”

“There can be no evidence of the Asset’s existence,” the Soldier protested.

“Bucky, this is your chance,” Steve said. “You can prove to everyone that you’re a hero.”

“Killian is resisting, he’s got eyes on Rodriguez. Ross just shot him - some sort of tranq gun, maybe. Killian’s going critical… No- He’s holding it.”

“Bucky, move in. You’ve got to save ‘em,” Steve pled as he nearly laid his bike on it’s side taking a corner with the throttle wide open.

“Hulk has engaged. War Machine is protecting Rodriguez and company. One of Garrett’s unit is moving in- They are Extremis Enhanced. War Machine, Ross and several others are responding with the tranq’s. I am taking position to provide supporting fire.”

“Bucky, they have to see you!” Steve exclaimed.

“That is contrary to Asset’s primary orders. Killian has caught the Hulk’s fist and is standing his ground. Several of Garrett’s are down, signs of Extremis Enhancement are dissipating.”

Steve threw himself over the fence outside of the White House and sprinted across the lawn toward where the fight had spilled out onto the steps. Ross had assumed command of the police, armed with pneumatic pistols. They had overturned tables to form a makeshift barricade in front of the entrance while the Secret Service evacuated Rodriguez and the remainder of his Cabinet. War Machine kept Garrett’s steadily diminishing forces focused on him, every few minutes another would succumb to the antidote; the Extremis glow dying out before they collapsed.

Killian twisted and managed to throw the Hulk to his knees, “Why are fighting me?” he screamed. “You of all people should understand me! They doubted you. Took your funding. That’s WHY you used yourself as a test subject. It didn’t have to be like this, if Tony Stark had just listened to me-”

The Hulk punched Killain in the face, “Boom-Man talks too much,” Hulk complained as he sat on the smaller Enhanced. Killian kicked and screamed in outrage but couldn’t shift the Hulk’s bulk. With Killian down the battle quickly came to an end.

The members of Garrett’s unit who were conscious laid down their weapons and held up their hands. War Machine and Ross ordered them to sit, even as more of them collapsed. “Helen, it’s your turn,” Rhodey said. “I’ve got about two dozen former Extremis patients for you… Let’s make sure that it’s fully deactivated.”

Steve skidded to a stop and looked around for someone to fight. For a moment he was sure he’d caught Rhodes’ eye but War Machine’s pilot didn’t acknowledge him.

“Hulk, I think the cure’s finally taking,” Rhodes said as he crouched to examine Killian. “You better move before you squish him.”

Grumbling to himself the Hulk stood.

Steve saw Ross bringing his gun up but he was too far away to do more than shout. The general fired and a dart lodged itself in the Hulk’s neck. A moment later Steve crushed the gun. “Do you understand NOW how dangerous it is to give a counter for the serum to someone like him?” Steve demanded of Rhodes and the Hulk.

“Ross stupid,” Hulk declared, he shot the General a look dripping with massive amounts of unsurprised and unimpressed.

Ross returned the Hulk’s look with one of smug triumph.

Rhodes eyed Ross closely, “No harm, no foul,” he said. “I mean you didn’t actually think a formula designed to turn off the Extremis nanites would have any effect on the Huk?” He groaned when he saw a sour look cross Ross’ face. “Damn and I almost believed you. Looks like I owe Betty fifty bucks, she bet me you’ld pull something like this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be fair to Steve, the odds of him being able to save Riley would have been infinitesimal. He just didn’t have enough information, even Sam himself might not have known where the RPG was fired from.


	13. Falling Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natasha’s perspective on the data dump is very, very different when she isn’t looking at it through the lens of defending her own actions. 
> 
> Meanwhile, I’ve got mixed feelings on S.H.I.E.L.D. The data dump is insanely irresponsible and even AoS acknowledged that there were severe consequences due to Steve and Natasha’s actions (Not that they actually blame those two, but in the aftermath we SEE compromised safe-houses, people coerced into HYDRA because their loved ones are being held hostage and captured Agents being brainwashed into serving HYDRA). 
> 
> But at the same time I think Steve might actually have been RIGHT to try to shut S.H.I.E.L.D. down. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s methods are horrible. Until Coulson’s apparent death S.H.I.E.L.D. was presented as everything that should make a person uncomfortable about the idea of of an off the books government agency who’s only oversight came from a secret cabal. Then we get CAWS and it’s all HYDRA’s fault that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s a mess (please ignore that there is something fundamentally wrong with S.H.I.E.L.D. that their methods are so similar to HYDRA’s that telling one from the other is a challenge and that only one member of the WSC was actually HYDRA the rest were just… not good). And then AoU and AoS would seem to have you believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. could be good, without any change to their methods, as long as the bad eggs were removed. Sorry, doesn’t work. Blaming/getting rid of people doesn’t address root cause, you have to fix the system and AoS shows this clearly: Coulson states that New S.H.I.E.L.D. is good because they’ve gotten rid of everyone they can’t trust and throw off the WSC’s control to go underground… And practically before his new team has been established he’s already been infiltrated by Other-New S.H.I.E.L.D., while they might not be HYDRA it’s a simple fact that Coulson’s new S.H.I.E.L.D. is still vulnerable to infiltration.
> 
> So anyway, the Data Dump was a stupid way of going about it (high in collateral damage and ineffective to boot: See AoS) but Steve was on to a good idea in wanting to get rid of both HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D.

**~ Steve ~**

“Rogers, get in the car,” Natasha’s voice broke into the comm channel connecting Steve and the Soldier.

“Natasha, how are you on this line? Where is Bucky?” Steve demanded in a harsh whisper as he watched from the sidelines while the police rounding up Killain’s followers and Rhodes draped a blanket around the recently reverted Bruce Banner’s shoulders.

“He’s with me. Over the fence to the south, the green Camry. With Killian dealt with the alliance with HYDRA done, the only question is who’ll realize it first,” Natasha explained sharply. “So get moving! Before someone tries to arrest you or I decide that you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

Steve took one last look at the SI team’s victory over Killian then turned and jogged away. He hopped the fence and slid into the seat beside Natasha, the Soldier was in the back studying a file. “What’s Fury’s plan?” Steve asked.

“Operation: Clean House,” Natasha replied as she peeled out. “Due to the alliance a number of HYDRA moles came forward as a show of good faith. Hill and Coulson are in charge of getting them under lock and key. Of course, Pierce held back the names of his best and most well placed operatives but Stark gave us some leads, we’ve taken the ball and ran with it,” She smirked and nodded toward the file the Soldier was flipping through. “Anyone who made the list, shoot on sight. Clint should be getting into position now but he’s waiting for us to start the party.”

The Soldier nodded and passed Steve the profiles he’d finished memorizing. “How big’s the operation?” he asked.

“Outside of the U.S. it’s basically over already,” Natasha said. “Every subtlety went out of the window with the data dump. The bases around the world are either S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA now and I suspect both sides are packing up and moving out before anyone gets around to exploiting their knowledge of the other side’s strongholds.” Natasha shook her head, “We owe Stark big. If this had caught us cold it would have been a slaughter.”

“I don’t understand,” Steve said.

“What’s not to understand?” Natasha replied. “HYDRA infiltrated us, they knew who their allies were, who they’d turned. S.H.I.E.L.D.? We wouldn’t have known who was against us until we had a knife in the back. But with Stark’s warning we’ve been setting up a counter cells, people whose loyalties we could count on. We’ve been moving agents’ families, off the books, just as soon as we’d cleared them. It gave us a fighting chance when Garrett blew the whistle. Even with that, there was a seventy-four percent casualty rate for agents caught in the field when the dump went down. Some of them were probably HYDRA, not all though. Innocent or guilty they all died the same: Covers blown with no warning, among enemies. It was neither HYDRA nor S.H.I.E.L.D. who killed them; it was mob bosses, insurgent forces, drug cartels, black market weapons dealers, illegal labs...”

“But that doesn’t matter now,” Natasha cut herself off. “With Killian gone- Well, if Garrett has any sense of self-preservation he’s gone to the ground. There are a subset of HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, those who lost friends or family, who might be willing to maintain the truce long enough to see the architect of the data dump’s head on a pike and Garrett’s lost his patron. -But for most, with Killian gone S.H.I.E.L.D. can no longer tolerate the existence of HYDRA within her ranks.”

The Soldier paused over one picture. “Everyone in this file is to be terminated?”

“Unless Clint, or someone else, gets to them first,” Natasha replied.

The Soldier looked back at picture, a small but pleased smirk tilting his lips up. “Where does this one frequent?”

When the Soldier held up the file for Natasha to see Steve recognized Brock Rumlow. _‘What did he do to you Bucky? Even as with everything they’ve done to you, still you don’t like killing, I can tell. But Rumlow… You’re looking forward to carrying out Nat’s orders so how do I tell you it’s wrong? … Was he one of the ones who put you in that Chair? Who made you like this? Made you so you couldn’t say ‘no’ when they told you to do things like murder Tony’s parents? Would it have helped if Tony could have seen this? Seen you turn on the ones who gave the orders?’_

 

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

 

Tony eyed the Soul Forge suspiciously, “I have to give you props on not requiring hospital gowns but I’ve gotta ask: How does this work?”

“It a Quantum Field Generator,” Jane volunteered, cutting Eir off before the Healer could speak. “They can image and manipulate the body’s energy fields on a molecular level.”

“I’d recommend imaging only,” Frigga cautioned. “Without the Tesseract to tame it we cannot know what the Space Stone may be capable of.”

“I will exercise due caution, my Lady,” Eir said. “Although, at a glance, I will say he appears less peaked than the female.”

“Do you think that’s because the Aether is supposed to be different than the other Relics or because the Space Stone is contained in Dr. Stark’s Arc Reactor where the Reality Stone just went directly into me?” Jane asked.

Eir looked startled. “Both hypotheses have merit, I will keep them in mind while performing the examination.”

Jane bit back a smug look as Odin and Loki gave her looks of renewed interest.

“Do I have to do tricks too?” Tony asked wryly.

“You have fought both a long side and against Thor,” Frigga remarked. She caught Tony’s gaze then glanced significantly towards Loki. “You have already spoken in a language Asgard hears well.”

Tony noted the sour look on Loki’s face, _‘I hear you Lady All-Mother: On top of being coerced Reindeer Games was trying to prove to Daddy that he could be brawn as well as brain. Hmmm, I wonder if Thor’s little ‘He’s adopted’ was because Loki killed so many… Or so few. Fuck, I’m starting to feel bad for the little shit, defensation notwithstanding.’_ He eyed Frigga appreciatively, _‘Natashalie has got absolutely nothing on her.’_

“Let us begin,” Eir said gesturing for Tony to get up on the table.

Tony glanced around nervously then his gaze settled on Nebula, leaning against the door jam, her arms crossed, her eyes alert and watching the Asgardians warily. Knowing she had his back Tony hopped up on the table. “Let the show begin,” he groused as he laid back and a glowing replica of his body appeared floating above him.

Eir spent several minutes manipulating the image then nodded toward Jane, “Maid-”

“Doctor, Dr. Foster,” Tony supplied. “She’s right isn’t she?”

“Dr. Foster’s speculation was accurate,” Eir acknowledged. “The device in your chest is containing the Space Stone’s energy much as the Tesseract did before it. However, the- The artificial symbiotes-”

“Nanites,” Tony said.

“The Nanities,” Eir repeated. “They enter into the device. They recharge from the Space Stone then enter your body but even then the energy is channeled, constrained. It is likely why you are not being burnt out by it as Dr. Foster is.”

Tony frowned at the replica of his body’s energies, at the bright star set in his chest and the more ordered structure of the alloys containing it. Then suddenly he realized what was bothering him about it. “I’ve seen more than a few of my own chest X-Rays, the shrapnel missing. Which is a damn good thing as the electromagnet that the Arc’s supposed to power is also MIA.”

“Hmm,” Eir studied the image more closely. “I am detecting some recently regrown tissue in the lungs below the device. Also there is a significantly higher concentration of Iron, among several other unexpected elements: Manganese, Nickel, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Chromium, and Vanadium, lacing your ribs.”

“They’re clever little bugs, those Extremis Enhanced Nanites,” Tony said, propping himself up on his elbows to get a better look. “I think- They chewed up the shrapnel, and the electromagnet since they didn’t need it- Chewed it up and spit it out to reinforce the Arc Reactor’s support and anchoring in my chest. They also got rid of the latching mechanism, don’t want me taking away their food I guess. They’ve got memory too, they’ve formatted the Arc into a later configuration unless… Can this thing tell you how old I am?”

“Forty-one. Although why you would need to ask?” Eir said frowning.

“Well that answers one question: This is my 2013 vintage body,” Tony said. “It’s just the tech that’s a later model.”

Nebula straightened, “The moment you returned to, was there ever a point when you were closer to the Space Stone?”

“Not until twenty minutes ago when it decided to move in and make itself at home,” Tony said. “So you think it’s behind my untimely arrival?”

“What haven’t you told us?” Odin demanded sternly.

Tony shrugged, “Time Travel. Half the Universe dead at Thanos’ hands. Asgard and her people wiped out. It’s all a little hard to believe, I know. So we tried to convince you that Thanos was a threat you should address based on the parts you could verify independently,” he nodded towards Loki, “Instead of asking you to take our word for it.

“My trip back had a few unexpected bumps on the road… Like maybe the Space Stone grabbed me when my personal timeline intersected with its general proximity. Crossing the streams of Space and Time would explain how I brought along physical stowaways when Wong was pretty sure that the Time Stone could only sent our consciousnesses back.”

“Apparently they don’t share,” Loki commented. He gestured toward the concentration of energy representing the Space Stone and Arc Reactor in Tony’s chest. “It was not my ‘issues’ that made the scepter fail, it simply didn’t want to trespass.”

“Oooh, did that crack hit a little close to home?” Tony asked innocently.

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

 

Within minutes of their arrival the underground base Steve’s ears were ringing with the sound of near continuous gunfire echoing through the confined corridors.

He kept his shield raised and Natasha stayed tucked in tight behind him, popping out to fire off irregular but impeccably aimed shots. The Soldier forged ahead of them using his metal arm to deflect gunfire and dropping enemies with almost every move he made. Coulson had control of the comms and his bland, unflappable voice promised that any HYDRA agent who surrendered would live to see the inside of a cell; those who didn’t surrender received no such promises.

Natasha glanced at the Soldier, then touched the comm in her ear, “Hill, you have a location on S.T.R.I.K.E.?”

“They’ve secured the cantina, put it out there as a ‘safe zone’ for non-combat personnel,” Hill replied with a snort.

“Shit,” Natasha said matter-of-a-factly. “It’s going to be a mess when we put them down.”

“We’ve been steering people away,” Hill said. “You’ve only got a half dozen honest S.H.I.E.L.D. employees in the crossfire.”

“It’ll have to be good enough,” Natasha said. She glanced at the Soldier again. “No way Rumlow walks.” She turned to Steve and the Soldier, “The cantina has a skylight.” She led them to a narrow fire-escape that let out behind the rundown diner that served as a cover for the base’s entrance.

Steve stared at the row of narrow slots dubiously, “Nat, I don’t think you could fit through those, much less Bucky or I.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” Natasha replied pulling two blocks of C4 from a pouch on her belt. “Go on the count of five,” she said as she started the timers and dropped the explosive packets into the slots. On three there was a muffled boom and jets of flame shot out of the slots.

On five Steve and the Soldier jumped. What was left of the skylight’s support structure gave way and dropped them nine feet into the center of the base cantina. Rumlow and his team, Steve recognized them from an elevator in a different world, were caught in the act of spinning to face the unexpected attack. “They’re HYDRA!” Steve shouted to the five shocked civilians as he tried to herd them into a corner where he could defend them. He put the sixth body, killed by falling debris, out of his mind.

The Soldier went straight on the attack. Natasha lowered herself on a zipline, opening fire on the S.T.R.I.K.E. team as she dropped. Steve saw Rumlow’s eyes widen as they locked on the Soldier’s metal arm. “Желание, Ржавый-” he began.

“No!” Steve exclaimed.

The Soldier grabbed a second assault rifle from one of the fallen members of S.T.R.I.K.E.

Rumlow kicked over a heavy table and dove behind it. “Семнадцать, Рассвет, Печь,” he said hurriedly. Steve threw his shield, richetting it off the back wall to hit Rumlow from behind. The man grunted with pain. “Девять,” he gasped out.

The Soldier shot one of the last three STRIKE members still on their feet then slammed into the table Rumlow was sheltering behind, sending the man sprawling, before vaulting over it in a smooth predatory motion.

“Добросер-” Rumlow’s voice broke off in a strangled gurgle.

Natasha dropped the last two S.T.R.I.K.E. members with her Bites.

The Soldier stood, dragging Rumlow up with him. His metal hand was wrapped tightly around Rumlow’s neck cutting off his air and his voice. “One thing about those words of yours, Кролик,” the Soldier said with a predatory grin. “They aren’t worth a damn if I don’t let you say them all.”

Rumlow’s fingers scrabbled helplessly against the metal fingers crushing his windpipe. He tried to kick back at the Soldier. There was a sharp crack as his neck snapped when the Soldier lifted him off the floor then he went limp. The Soldier dropped him like yesterday’s trash and walked away. “What now?”

“Hill?” Natasha asked.

But it was Coulson’s voice that answered. “I’d appreciate if you could head for lab B3-6. Grant Ward, my team’s mole, has managed to get himself squirreled away with my favorite mad scientists. Agent May was supposed to deal with him but she’s been drawn into combat with known HYDRA forces.”

“Classy, asking me to take care of the team you dumped us for,” Natasha said, aiming for teasing but not quite hitting the note. It didn’t keep her from moving quickly toward the door, the Soldier flanking her. “You ever try to fit in an air vent, Yasha?” she asked.

“Discreet? Good line of sight?” the Soldier asked.

“You’ll see him, he won’t see you,” Natasha promised.

“The way I like it,” the Soldier said and Steve felt his stomach turn.

Natasha’s gaze raked over Steve judgingly. “You’d be more useful out there,” she said almost kindly, “Rallying our forces, that sort of thing.”

Steve glanced at the Soldier and hesitated. _‘Bucky, I want to protect you.’_

“Steve, I’ll be fine,” the Soldier stated as if in answer to Steve’s unspoken thought. For the briefest of moments his teeth flashed in a feral grin, “Not like I’m giving them a fair fight.”

_‘You shouldn’t say things like that and smile but how can I argue against you keeping safe?’_ Steve thought. He waffled a moment longer. The Soldier waved him away and Steve gave in. While Natasha and the Soldier vanished into the shadows Steve headed for the nearest concentration of S.H.I.E.L.D. loyalists.

Eventually Steve found himself fighting alongside Sharon Carter. Steve could see Peggy’s influence in how Sharon fought, how she moved and they fell easily into sync. They fought their way through the base to the operations center. “Just the man I wanted to see,” Fury declared. He gestured to the heavy door, “Pierce managed to hold himself up in there and he’s using the base’s automated defenses to make trouble.”

Steve nodded. He eyed the door, taking measure of the reinforced hinges and shear weight of the thing then he struck. He put his entire weight and all the momentum his enhanced muscles could generate behind it as he drove the edge of his shield into a crack that should have been too small and then used it as a lever to pry the door off its hinges. The odd thought that it was only because he’d grown up so frail that he’d developed a feel for how to get the most out of whatever force he could generate crossed his mind. _‘Not what Erskine meant when he said ‘A weak man knows the value of strength’.’_

He picked a second spot on the door and struck again. With a groan of over-stressed metal the door fell inward. Steve burst in, Fury and Carter flanking him.

Alexander Pierce was leaning over one of the control panel, a bloody rag tied over a hole in his side. Seeing them he let himself slide to the ground. “You know Nick, I thought you’d give me a little more rope, for old times sake,” Pierce said conversationally. “I really should have known better. I did make you the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. _because_ you were the best and the most ruthless person I ever met… I shouldn’t have let myself think that our friendship would make you hesitate.”

Fury didn’t let his aim shift, “The man I was friends with, he wasn’t a Nazi.”

Pierce laughed, “Is that what’s bothering you? Johann Schmidt didn’t found HYDRA, the organization is actually indigenous to the Americas although we’d spread to Europe before the birth of Christ. HYDRA used Nazi Germany, like they used the Soviet Union… And Ivan the Terrible before them. HYDRA served as advisors for Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar and to Rome’s Tiberius- Almost taking the empire from him in fact, but HYDRA are better King-Makers than Kings if we’re being honest. It’s no coincidence that S.H.I.E.L.D. functions best in the shadows, Nick.”

Fury grimaced at that and Sharon Carter looked a little sick. _‘I know how she feels, seeing the organization Peggy had helped to found so deeply corrupted,’_ Steve thought.

“HYDRA doesn’t owe allegiance to any particular political system. I suppose we do owe _that_ to Schmidt.” Pierce coughed bringing up blood. “Before him HYDRA was basically a theocracy, a group of priests preparing a path for our- really their god to return and rule, I doubt that HYDRA would have held much appeal for me. Schmidt- I don’t know that you can call him an atheist but he was more interested in becoming a god than in turning the world over to one. After Schmidt, HYDRA fractured becoming the multi-headed beast you know today. The schism he began spread- Oh there are still some traditionalists, tossing people into the Monolith to appease their god. If Loki hadn’t been such a raging failure, I’m certain there would be a number of old school HYDRA ready to throw themselves at his feet and proclaim him to be the god they’ve long waited for, as it is they turn to the hidden hand whose presence could be felt behind the Chitauri Invasion.” Pierce grimaced, “You have no idea how much censure I came under from various factions for allowing the Avengers to prevent the Invasion.”

“The missile,” Fury said. “Even for the WSC nuking Manhattan seemed like a dumbass move.”

Pierce smiled weakly and wiped his chin on the back of his sleeve, leaving a bright red stain, “More likely to destroy the forces arrayed against the Chitauri than to put a serious dent in the invasion? Yes, that was the idea. I didn’t particularly like it. That’s why I went through you to implement it, Nick. I trusted you to see that it failed. You and Stark lived up to my expectations brilliantly. I’m not one to kneel to an alien ‘god’. Nor do I want to be a god… Or even control one, Strucker is much more Schmidt’s true successor than I am. I’m a modern sort, I put my faith in technology and men...”

A snort of disgust and disbelief escaped Steve.

“Oh, I don’t mean everyone,” Pierce assured him. He looked down at the makeshift bandage on his side, the rag was completely soaked through and blood was starting to puddle on the floor beneath him. “Not much time left,” he commented. “Most people are stupid, selfish and short-sighted. You don’t hand over power to just anyone. How could we maintain the world’s safety if we did? It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow or an EMP fries Chicago. You can’t trust, just anyone, with the safety of the world.

“Nick, tell me honestly, hasn’t your job gotten that much harder since the Battle of Manhattan? Now that you have everyone from the President to the press peering over your shoulder, trying to tell you how to get things done? Wasn’t it almost a relief when Garrett released those files, forcing you, forcing _us_ to trim the fat and take the core of our organizations back underground? Isn’t it so much easier without the armchair quarterbacks having their say? Our enemies are your enemies, Nick: Disorder. War. Diplomacy? Holding action, a band-aid. And you know where I learned that? Bogota. From you, Nick. You didn't ask, you just did what had to be done.”

“You don’t give up do you?” Fury said. “With your dying breath you’re going to try to turn _me_?”

“Try to open your eyes,” Pierce corrected. “You’re more than halfway there already. You’re just hung up on labels: HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D. There is no real difference, there never was. From the day S.H.I.E.L.D. was first conceived it was meant to be the line between the normal world and this world, to protect people from news they weren't ready to hear. To stop the threats before Joe Smith or Jane Doe ever even considered that they might exist. Project Insight spoke to you Nick… Until it cross your mind that you might not be the one with your finger on the button. But I’m telling you that you can be the one.

“I believe in what I’m doing and there’s no one I’d trust more to carry on my work. Every guise HYDRA has ever take, it’s just been a means to an end: To bring order, security to the people of this planet. It's the natural evolution, the next step on the path you’ve been walking all along. The path you showed me. If you have the courage to take it.”

“Naw, turns out I don’t need a gun to the head of every person on this planet to feel safe after all,” Nick said. “You showed me how easy it is to NOT maintain control of the trigger.”

“You’ll regret it,” Pierce said, his eyes straying from the trio at the door to stare into the distance. “Killian won’t be the last.” This time when Pierce started coughing it was several long moments before he could stop. In a weak whisper he concluded: “The Avengers, assembled to combat threats no one else could. But what will you do when your ragtag band isn’t enough?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Кролик = bunny, I’m aiming for the small helpless prey animal (says the person who spent most of middle school and high school with scars on her hands and forearms because I had to wash my rabbits before showing them and most of them did NOT appreciate the bath) not the term of endearment = зайчик
> 
> Well, this chapter got long and ended up almost all Steve (sorry). Bruce’s next bit doesn’t have the immediacy of S.H.I.E.L.D. vs HYDRA, it didn’t really work to interweave it.


	14. Fall Out

**~ Bruce ~**

 

Rhodes stalked through Bruce’s lab and threw himself onto the couch in the Hulk/Break Room. Bruce and Betty traded a mystified glance with their lab mates. “If it was SI stuff he’d be in Ms. Potts’ office,” one of them opinioned.

“He’s got a point,” Betty said. “Shall we?”

Bruce followed her down the ladder. “Has something happened?”

“You two haven’t seen it yet?” Rhodes asked. “I can’t believe the fucking nerve of that asshole. Betty, how did you not run away from home growing up with him?”

“Well, he and Mom did find that their marriage worked best when he was stationed overseas or in another state,” Betty replied wryly. “What’s he done now?”

“He ‘apologized’, on live TV, to the Hulk.” Rhodes huffed.

“Oh this’ll be good,” Bruce said. “Let me guess: It was a friendly-fire accident and he hopes the Other Guy can understand? All the while implying that he’s not apologizing in person because, of course, the Hulk can’t be trusted not to squish him like a bug and I can’t be trusted to control him.”

“Honey,” Betty reproved gently. “You’ve been doing so much better about respecting the Hulk as an individual.”

“Old habits,” Bruce said, then turned to Rhodes. “Since coming back I’ve been really thinking about how the Hulk acts and why. Fred Sloan, the PR guy Pepper assigned to me, he actually talks to the Hulk quite a bit and he’s been helping me realize what Betty tried to tell me years ago was right: the Hulk’s not as a monster. He’s not a tool a tool or a weapon for me to use. Once I started looking at him in that light his problems with me make sense, I mean, when you consider that my main goal for nearly a decade was to get rid of him or control him. I needed to realize that he’s not my enemy and that I should stop being his. I had to realize that we’re in this together.”

“So he’s like a full on split personality?” Rhodes asked curiously. “Or a separate personality created by the serum?”

“A split personality is probably the best description,” Bruce admitted. “Looking at myself honestly I had to think that the serum gave life to a part of myself that I’d always repressed. But then Sakaar happened and Hulk was out in the world for years. He developed, became more than just the anger I buried.”

“I’d say he always was,” Betty said. “Between the two of you he has the emotional intelligence… You should listen to him more.”

“Well, since he introduced you and Pepper, I can hardly argue with that,” Bruce said.

“You could but you’d lose,” Rhodes said. “So General Ross, you two aren’t surprised or anything?”

“You didn’t think Dad survived the backlash from Harlem… Or the Hulk’s initial creation… Without knowing how to cover his ass?” Betty asked. “If you hadn’t seen his expression when he found out it didn’t work on the Hulk you probably would have been ready to entertain the possibility that it really was an accident.”

“He’s a decorated hero, I wanted you to be wrong about him. Feels like he played me, the whole military,” Rhodes said sourly.

“This barely counts as a set back,” Bruce said. “Thunderbolt was the most recognizable baseline human going up against Killian, so got a little good press and he got away with a pointless attack on the Hulk that we all knew he was going to make.

“But-” Bruce held up a finger, “But this time he had to apologize to the Hulk. A year ago he might have offered the public an apology; technically apologizing for triggering the Hulk but it would have ended up sounding more like an apology for failing to put him down. Today Ross had to apologize TO the Hulk. And that’s a lot of progress. This whole thing with Killian has probably sped up the timeline for the Accords and I don’t know that we’ll be able to get Ross out of the picture before they hit but he won’t be the only voice people are listening to these days.

“The Hulk isn’t Captain America. He doesn’t have seventy years of good press building him up as this perfect, flawless hero. He’s not- Well, he certainly doesn’t have Steve’s old-fashion charm or his charisma. But people are looking at the Hulk and seeing the Enhanced as protectors rather than monsters. If we- If he can keep that up, Ross won’t stand a chance. What can Ross do to twist the Accords when people aren’t even afraid of the Hulk?”

 

* * *

  **~ Tony ~**

 

“Your Highness -um- All-Mother? What am I supposed to call you?” Tony asked uncomfortably as Thor escorted him to the small pavilion in the center of Frigga’s gardens.

“That does not normally seem an issue for you,” Frigga replied with a touch of mischief in her smile.

Tony flushed. “Er- Authority figures who I don’t reflexively want to tweak… Well, let’s just say you’re a rarity.”

Frigga laughed as she waved Thor off.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Tony said. “Not to be rude or anything but why? Now that Odin’s been satisfied that I’m not out to steal the Tesseract. Not that I can exactly give it back...

“When the times comes, Odin will not hinder your leaving Asgard,” Frigga said with serene confidence.

“Is ‘when the time comes’ a synonym for ‘when I want to go’?” Tony asked frankly. “Or is it more like when you decide I can go. I mean right now everyone’s tied up planning for the inevitable return of Thranduil’s Evil Twin and I get the feeling that Odin isn’t looking for my help. As for Thanos, I gather you’re more dialed in to Asgard’s tech than Odin but I thought you wanted Loki out of a cell at in charged of that. So why am I here?”

Frigga smiled, “Right now we have a moment’s pause and I’ve had the feeling you wished to speak with me. I thought I’d facilitate it.”

Tony hesitated. He glanced over Frigga’s guards and Thor’s retreating back, making sure that they were out of ear shot. The he exclaimed, “How do you do it? Manage Odin. Get him to agree with you.”

“The only power I hold is what I derive from my influence over Odin,” Frigga said. “But realize, Odin and I’s sons are approximately a thousand Midgardian years old. I have had both time and motivation to learn how best to exercise my influence.”

Guilt lanced through Tony but before he could put into words what he’d said wrong Frigga leaned forward and put a hand on his forearm. “Don’t,” she said.

“I should, shouldn’t have-” Tony began then broke off uncertainty.

Frigga smiled. “I’ve watched you negotiate these last few days,” she said. “And from that I can draw conclusions about you.”

Tony looked both curious and wary.

“You’re used to negotiating from a position of having some _thing_ the other person wants. Somehow, I’m not certain how, you’ve even come to consider your intelligence some _thing_ that people want from you… Rather than seeing it as an intrinsic part of _you_ that contributes to making you a unique and valued person,” Frigga said gently.

Tony struggled to find words to refute what Frigga had implied: _‘The only value you see in yourself are the things you can offer,’_ but he couldn’t.

“I was fortunate,” Frigga said quietly. “Yesterday was not the first time I offered myself as a hostage to facilitate trust between two groups. When Vanaheim was conquered by Asgard I married a man I’d never met, apart from on the battlefield, to bring our two people closer together. My people’s loyalty to me assured Odin that they would fight him no longer. And in return, their next king would be my son as well as Odin’s. That Odin would grow to respect my opinions and love me was more than I could have allowed myself to hope for on the day I married him.”

_‘My mom used to try to say things without saying them. I’ll always regret that I didn’t pay more attention to her back then,’_ Tony thought as gave Frigga his full attention.

“What is it that you Midgardians say? We must all play the hands we are dealt.” Frigga smiled kindly, “But never forget: We are more than the cards the Norns deal out… And for all that Odin is the prideful, stubborn man you see him as, he is also more than that. He does his best to rule all his subjects well and if I can offer him a path to detour around a mistake without losing face it is my pleasure to do so.” Frigga paused for a moment. “But it is Odin’s choice to accept path I offer, or to ignore it. He chooses to allow me to ‘manage him’, as you put it.”

_‘I offered Steve a way out in Berlin and he chose to throw it back in my face,’_ Tony realized. _‘But I had the option of putting the suit on and trying to beat the living shit out of him later. What options does she have if Odin doesn’t cooperate? Tell him to sleep on the couch? Is even THAT an option when you’re married to an absolute monarch?’_

“I feel like an ass, whining to you when I’ve always been privileged,” Tony said. “It’s not fair-”

“Life is not fair,” Frigga agreed readily. “Were it so it never would have been Loki’s dearest ambitious to be regarded as Thor’s equal because he would have won respected for his many talents and been loved for himself as readily as Thor was. There would have been no reason for jealousy between my sons if life were fair. But it is not and now Loki suffers, not entirely undeservedly, for the tantrum he threw upon realizing that neither Odin nor Asgard would ever love him the way they loved Thor.

“Life is not fair,” Frigga repeated. “And so I’ve known powerlessness and you’ve been taught to devalue yourself and neither is fair. Accept a word of advice that I would give you: The reason you’re asking me how? I could spend years teaching you my tricks but it would do you no good. I can see from the way you hold yourself that the person you wish to ‘manage’ has in their heart no love or respect for you. It would do you no good.”

Tony’s face twisted, “I wanted it to be me,” he confessed. “I can fix me.”

Frigga shook her head. “You don’t need to be fixed.”

Tony stared at her for several minutes. “I feel like it should make me happy to hear that, but…”

“But now you that you’ve seen it you have to give them up,” Frigga said. “You know in your heart that what I’ve said is true: They are not and never will be your friend. It hurts to let go of our illusions but in the long run it is for the best. The young lady you travel with, she is a worthy shield-mate. And I believe you will find others like her to stand at your side. Don’t let the past keep you from a better future.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

 

“Today, Michael Rodriguez resigned as the Forty-fourth President of the United States immediately after confessing to his involvement in Aldrich Killian’s conspiracy which resulted in the assassination of Rodriguez’s predecessor, Matthew Ellis,” the news anchor declared.

A clip of Rodriguez’s confession played, “I am deeply regretful of my inaction, of failing to report my knowledge of Aldrich Killian’s plans and his relationship to the terrorist known as the Mandarin. All I can say in my defense; and I know it is completely inadequate; is that I love my daughter very dearly and it has torn me apart to see her confined to wheelchair due to the injuries she suffered in the drunk driving incident that killed her mother,” he said nodding to the eight year old girl standing behind him on two healthy legs.

“Aldrich Killian offered me a chance to see my daughter healed and I’m ashamed to say I turned my back on the duties I’d assumed beyond those of being a father. I forgot my sworn duty to the American people. I- for those other people out there who were taken in by Killian’s promises only to find themselves chained to him by Extremis’ instability, I want you to know: Dr. Bruce Banner and Stark Industries have discovered a means of rendering Extremis inert. You can be free of Killian, free of the fear of being turned into a walking bomb. Come forward before it’s too late.”

“I’ve heard the death penalty is off the table,” Rhodes commented. “They don’t want to push anyone into opting to go out with a bang rather than turn themselves in and getting cured of Extremis.”

“I want to know who the next President is going to be,” Pepper said. “Congress never managed to confirm a Vice President for Rodriguez. The Speaker of House was implicated as having connections to HYDRA. The President Pro Tem had a heart attack during Killian’s efforts to resist arrest.”

“Oh God, please don’t tell me it’s Dad,” Betty groaned.

“No,” Rhodes said. “All of Rodriguez’s appointments have been annulled. Because he was involved in Ellis’ murder- Well, no one wants a President who was put into the line of succession by a traitor acting on the whims of a terrorist. And with half of Ellis’ Cabinet dying along with him on Air Force One we’re having to go pretty far down the list to find someone someone who isn’t compromised or dead. The bad news is there’s a good chance that Thunderbolt will keep his cabinet thanks to us allowing him a role in exposing Killian.”

Bruce shrugged, “We all agreed that bringing him in gave us the best chance of keeping Alissa Rodriguez’s grade school from becoming the next Mandarin bombing target. Going forward from here it’d be easier if Ross were out of the picture... But not at the cost of dozens of murdered children. He’s a master at playing the system but still he’s constrained by it, he’s not some all powerful god. He’s Captain Ahab to the Hulk’s White Whale but I’ve been dealing with that for years. This was the better choice.”

* * *

**~ Tony ~**

 

_He doesn’t know what he’s looking at, it’s so alien it hurts his brain... Then it’s not. People bustling purposefully around a huge lab, multiple levels, tiered, open to one another. There’s a sense of purpose and determination filling the air. When he looks up he sees a crowded sky. It’s night but the stars are so thick and so close, the sky is tapestry of light studded with the swirling whirlpools marking black holes._

_“There isn’t much time left.” He turned toward the voice and saw six glowing points condense into stones. “But we won’t be forgotten.”_

Tony woke up. The light from the Arc Reactor bathed his quarters in bright blue light. “What the fuck?”


	15. Battle of Svartalfheim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little trivia: I’ve seen the argument that Rhodes couldn’t have stolen the armor in IM2 without Tony having set him up to take it because it wouldn’t have fit. So anyway, thinking of that, when I went to have Pepper borrow the armor I looked up heights: Gwyneth Paltrow and RDJ are both 5’9” according to google. Terrence Howard is notably taller at 6’0”... But Don Cheadle, playing Rhodes in IM2 and ever since, is 5’8”
> 
> I still think Tony arranged and purposely provoked Rhodes into taking the armor, but based on IM2 it's not impossible to think that Rhodes could have fit into the armor without Tony re-designing it specially for him.

**~ Tony ~**

One of the Einherjar marched up to the berth were Nebula’s ship was docked and shouted. “Man of Iron, the Allfather summons you!”

“Oooh, we’ve been summoned,” Tony snarked to Nebula with a roll of his eyes.

“They decided they could use our help with Malekith and the Reality Stone after all,” Nebula decided. “I suppose we have to give it to them?”

“It’s the right thing to do. And we need them,” Tony reminded her. “It could be worse, I’m pretty sure that Odin and Asgard can deliver if they get their asses in gear.”

“Yes, it could be worse,” Nebula agreed. “I’ve met your former teammates.”

“So, shall we go see what the One-Eyed King wants?” Tony asked.

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

Steve ran into Coulson in the halls of the underground S.H.I.E.L.D. based several days after Operation: Clean House concluded with Fury dumping the bodies of several dozen HYDRA agents in John Garrett’s office along with sending the press evidence that Garrett had been compromised by HYDRA before switching loyalty to Killian.

“So... You’re not dead. That’s... good,” Steve said. He wondered if Coulson had survived in the other timeline as well with him none the wiser.

Coulson smiled politely, “Not at the moment, no. I’m still trying to pin down Director Fury on the exact details of my… recovery.”

Steve nodded, “Secrets are epidemic around here, I guess.”

“Stark wasn’t wrong when he said Fury’s secrets have secrets,” Coulson replied. “I understood that from the outset. But I didn’t anticipate that I would run into ‘need to know’ as reason to keep me out of my own medical files… Was there something you wanted Captain?”

“Not really, I suppose I was just feeling at loose ends,” Steve admitted.

“Hmm, I don’t know that I can help you with that,” Coulson said. “I have more than enough loose ends of my own to deal with.”

Later that night in his quarters with the Soldier, Steve asked, “What do you think we should do Bucky? S.H.I.E.L.D.’s still here and the HYDRA infiltration has been dealt with. Do you think we should we stay? I’ve still got a bad feel about this place but if we leave I don’t think Natasha or Clint would be with us.”

“What is the mission?” the Soldier asked.

“Well, assemble the Avengers,” Steve said. “I told you about Thanos, we need to have the team together and strong to face him instead of us being strung out from quarreling amongst ourselves.”

The Soldier looked dubious. “You said you fought alongside an army of highly advanced warriors last time. You had the Widow then and it didn’t change the outcome, based on your data acquiring the Archer won’t change anything either.”

“It’s not-” Steve shook his head. “We shouldn’t have been in Wakanda. By the time Thanos came, it was too late. We should have been in New York, with Tony, when the first attack came.”

“You should have had the Mind Stone and Time Stone in a single location so Thanos’ forces could have concentrate their attack? On a city lacking the shields and other advanced armaments possessed by the Wakandan military?” the Soldier asked doubtfully.

“Yes- No- I don’t know!” Steve exclaimed in frustration. “We didn’t even know about those sorcerers having the Time Stone. I don’t know. If things had been different, if Bruce hadn’t run off after Ultron- Well, I guess it was good he was around to help Thor out and we wouldn’t have had any warning about Thanos without the Hulk-”

Tony’s voice echoed in Steve’s memories, giving lie to his words: _“Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole? Saved New York? Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's...that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?”_

“No warning we were ready to listen to,” Steve corrected himself, his voice carrying a tinge of shame. “I just know that we should have faced Thanos together.”

The Soldier studied Steve for several minutes. “If you’d been at the Compound with the Mind Stone Host when the first attack came would you have split the team?”

“No,” Steve protested.

“No? You would not have sent a response team to the Sorcerers’ location while holding back the Mind Stone host and a team to protect it?” the Soldier asked.

“It- sounds reasonable when you say it like that,” Steve admitted reluctantly. “I don’t know what to do, Buck. The team’s scattered. Bruce- He’s at SI but I don’t think he cares about convincing Rhodes or Ms. Potts to help build a team to fight Thanos, he’s just leaving it to Tony. And Tony left to his own devices? That’s how we got Ultron, I know he meant well but he just made everything worse. I don’t think Sam’ll ever want to be an Avenger. Natasha and Clint seem content to stick with S.H.I.E.L.D. I thought I could count on Thor and Scott to be around when they were before but everything’s so different, maybe they won’t. Maybe the scepter ends up somewhere else and Wanda and her brother never get powers. How do I bring the team together when everything keeps changing?”

“The team isn’t the mission, Thanos is,” the Soldier corrected. He eyed Steve warily, waiting for a bad reaction.

But Steve only asked “How do we fight Thanos without the team? You and I can’t fight him alone.”

The Soldier tilted his head to the side, “The Mind Stone, take it from HYDRA now. Destroy it years before Thanos comes for it?”

“That’s good,” Steve said with a nod. “If I can get a team together… I’ll talk Fury around to giving me Natasha and Clint, maybe Thor’ll come back or we’ll find Wanda and Pietro…”

“Right, let’s assemble your team,” the Soldier said dryly.

 

* * *

 

 

**~ Tony ~**

“Man of Iron,” Odin pronounced when Tony and Nebula stood before him and an assembly of Asir warriors at the Observatory. “Thor, the First Prince of Asgard gives testimony that you have comported yourself well in battle alongside him. But as you have come seeking alliance from Asgard I would see this for myself.”

“So Nebula and I _are_ helping out against Malekith and his horror movie rejects?” Tony asked glibly.

Odin frowned down at Tony but didn’t acknowledge his implications. “Prince Thor and Loki have gone ahead with the mortal Jane Foster to draw Malekith out. When they have done their part we will descend on Svartalfheim.”

Heimdall, standing at his post, took a moment to nod to his king before returning his gaze to the small party making their way across the barren and blasted planes of the Dark Elves’ homeworld.

Odin gestured toward the rear of the group where Frigga, Eir and two young novitiate healers were clustered. “Once the Aether has been extracted, my Queen will lead the effort to contain it.” To Tony’s eyes there was a clear distance between the four of women and the Asir warriors. Frigga and Eir held themselves coolly aloof from the warriors’ doubtful glances but the two girls were caught between wide-eyed and cowering behind their teacher. “The rest of us will keep Malekith, his Kursed and the rest of his army from them,” Odin continued.

“If they can’t take care of themselves they don’t belong on a battlefield,” Sif muttered, Tony doubted her discontented grumbling was loud enough to reach Odin’s ear. _‘Just like Rogers,’_ he thought. _‘Can’t take not being the center of attention... Wonder if it ever occurred to him that he could have sunk Zemo’s plan if he’d just **called** me with the info about the Winter Core. I would have been in, out and done before Zemo ever reached Siberia. Once the Super Soldiers were secured I would have left the JCTC to pick up Zemo and he never would have gotten the chance for his little show and tell. Rogers’ dirty secret would have stayed under wraps… Except he needed to be the hero. So instead of calling me, he dicked around for twenty-four hours bringing in his three Stooges and gave Zemo all the time he needed to beat us to Siberia. And they say **I** don’t play well with others.’_

Several minutes passed in tense silence then Heimdall declared, “Thor calls.” He opened the Bifrost and Odin led the charge. They spilled out on a dark plain where Thor held the Aether in check with a steady stream of lightning from his hammer. Near Malekith’s feet Loki crouched over Jane, shielding her with his body. Then, as they watched, the Aether exploded into shower of sharp-edged fragments. “I did it,” Thor laughed.

“It is not over,” Odin corrected sternly as the fragments rose from the ground. He sent Malekith staggering back with a blast from his spear. The warriors of Asgard ran past him to engage with the Dark Elf army.

Frigga spun threads of blue magic around the Aether’s malevolent red. “Loki, you are our fifth,” she called and Loki leapt to take the open space left between the two Novitiates. He and Eir quickly wound threads of green and gold through the weave Frigga had begun, reinforcing it. The Novitiates fed their shimmering, undecided magics to the more experienced trio, loaning their strength to the battle.

“Keep an eye out,” Tony murmured to Nebula as he pulled Jane behind him. “I don’t know that we can trust the meat-heads to remember their job is to protect while they have something to kill in front of them.” Nebula smirked as she planted herself between the battle and Frigga’s circle.

At first Tony thought the Asir would overwhelm Malekith’s army then the massive horned monster that served as Malekith’s second entered the fray. The Kursed scattered first wave of Asir warriors like straw. Volstagg, Fandral and Sif stepped into the gap to confront him. What followed was short and painful to watch. The trio were a cut above the average and they were determined, but they were also thoroughly outclassed. All their stubborn determination accomplished was getting them put down hard.

Once the three warriors fell Tony held back for a moment, allowing the Kursed to get a few steps from their crumpled forms, then unleashed a slew of missiles. Nebula drew closer to Tony and waited, batons at ready, watchful and ready but leaving Tony to take the lead. He was the stronger ranged fighter and she knew she’d only limit him by closing with their enemy too quickly.

The Kursed strode through the smoke and flames, unscathed. “Can I just say: Not Surprised?” Tony sighed and fired the unibeam. It punched through the Kursed and carved a cave into the cliff behind him. Tony blinked at the unwavering power reading on his HUD as he waited for the Kursed to fall. With the power of the Space Stone behind it, even the Unibeam had barely caused a flicker in his power reserves. And yet… The Kursed looked down at the hole in his chest, his lips curled back in a snarl but he didn’t fall. He stalked forward, unfazed, despite the literal hole in his chest. “What’s this guy supposed to be? The Energizer Bunny?” Tony exclaimed.

“The Kursed are walking dead,” Odin declared as he waited for Malekith to pull himself out of a new crater in the landscape. “Until the tainted power running through their veins has consumed them they cannot fall.”

“Peachy,” Tony said sarcastically. He felt the Space Stone embedded in his breast bone pulsing with power. _‘Not the time to run,’_ he thought at the Stone. _‘I wonder, could I teleport the five of them and the Aether back to Asgard? Can the Stone ‘hear’ what I want? Will it listen to me? I hate to depend on a magic rock…'_

Tony gulped at pulse of what he could only classify as disappointment from the stone he carried over his heart.

“On my best days I’ve barely got a functioning brain to mouth filter! You can’t expect me to sensor my thoughts!” Tony exclaimed, glancing at his chest. _’Okay, that dream. As I supposed to gather that they’re born of science not magic? Or was it just my mind interpreted… Whatever I was seeing… As science because I’m me. Well, the Mind Stone had an AI in it… Don’t get jealous! It’s not my fault that’s the one of you I ended up studying! Even if it- You could do something like beam Tusks into the heart of a star or deep space. Well, I shouldn’t be trying shit like this for the first time in the middle of a battle- Fuck! Is this maturity? What happened to ‘run before you can walk’? Ultron happened. I don’t like it.’_

“Shoot off his legs,” Nebula suggested blandly.

“Great thought,” Tony said as he primed the Unibeam a second time and fired at the Kursed’s left knee. The monster grunted as he toppled into the the long furrow scored in the plane. “Yes!” Tony cheered. “Will not fall my ass. Physics rules!”

The Kursed levered himself up on one elbow and drew back his arm to throw a knife. Nebula darted forward and smashed her baton into his forearm before he could.

_‘This has to be the battle where Loki ‘died’ last time,’_ Tony thought, paling as he tossed a quick glance over his shoulder at the mage. _‘No Bionic Woman to keep him from getting impaled that time?’_

“Don’t leave a job a quarter done,” Nebula scolded Tony as she stepped back from the Kursed giving him room to fire.

Tony looked a little ill as he moved to stand over the Kursed. For a moment he stared into Nebula’s eyes borrowing resolve from her certainty then blasted off the rest of the monstrously enhanced elve’s limbs, leaving him to writhe helplessly in the dirt, cursing their births and their species.

Behind Tony and Nebula Eir brought out a rune-covered jar carved from single burl of an ancient tree. Frigga and Loki used their magic to funnel the Aether into it then Eir capped it off and bound it in a linen cloth. As the spell was tied off the five caster collapsed, their energy entirely spent.

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“So, I’ve been wondering,” Happy commented to Pepper as he grabbed the armchair next to the CEO, “What was it like being Iron Man?”

“Well…” Pepper hesitated for a beat then glanced down at her chest. “It pinches a bit.”

“You didn’t just!” Betty laughed.

Pepper grinned.

Bruce glanced around the little group. It had started after the Battle of Manhattan, after listening to Tony’s messages. Not a wake because he, Pepper, Rhodes and Happy Hogan knew Tony was out there somewhere getting the Universe ready to face Thanos, but that didn’t mean the people he’d left behind on Earth didn’t miss him. _‘I’m just amazed that Tony’s friends reached out to me,’_ Bruce thought.

Betty had been a welcome addition to the group, fitting herself back into Bruce’s life as if he’d never left her and clicking with Pepper instantaneously. After their third get-together with Betty in the mix, Happy and Rhodes had declared that if Pepper and Betty ever decided to rule the world there would be nothing to do but accept their new Overlords graciously, which started Bruce wondering if Thor would show up again and if he did if it would be possible to convince him to bring his Jane and the much storied Darcy Lewis and her taser of doom along.

“If I may interject,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “I believe it may be possible to… Make a few modifications to better tailor the Iron Man armor to your measurements.”

“No, no!” Pepper said shaking her head. “That was extreme circumstances, I’m no superhero!”

“Isn’t that what Tony said?” Rhodes asked. “Back when all this crazy started.”

“I wouldn’t dismiss it so quickly,” Bruce added cautiously. “Extreme circumstances are the name of the game around here. I’m the last person who would ever feel comfortable insisting that someone jump into a fight but- Well, it wouldn’t be a bad idea if you and Betty had the means to protect yourselves- If necessary.”

“You’re expecting it get _that_ bad?” Pepper asked.

“There goes the mood,” Happy sighed. “But think about what Banner’s told us: He, Tony and a bunch of other guys from all over the Universe came back in time because this Thanos is THAT bad.”

“Tony and I only watched ‘City on the Edge of Forever’ like a million times in college,” Rhodes said. “Tony wouldn’t undertake time travel lightly.”

“Really?” Betty asked curiously. “I never met him but his reputation isn’t exactly for being careful.”

“Tell Tony something’s going to blow up and you practically have to sit on him to keep him away from it,” Happy said. “I’ve done it, no joke. But risk exposing his heart? That’s a different story.”

Pepper and Rhodes nodded in agreement, their expressions somber. “I think Tony created J.A.R.V.I.S. to have _someone_ he could trust not leave him, either through death or betrayal,” Rhodes said. Bruce flinched as he remembered Ultron, J.A.R.V.I.S.’s destruction and how not one of them had offer Tony so much as an _"I’m sorry for your loss"_.

“And he was only twenty-three then.” Rhodes turned to Pepper, “That was the year before he found you. I was really glad when I met you. I mean, I wasn’t sure he would ever be able to trust someone new after-” Rhodes broke off with a sour look on his face.

Happy nodded approvingly, “Speak the name of the devil and you may draw her attention.”

“So the devil’s a woman?” Betty asked.

“In this case? Oh yeah,” Rhodes said.

Bruce took off his glasses to fill his hands, “You’re right,” he said. “Tony, none of us undertook time travel lightly. And since I’ve been back? Everything that’s happened? It’s only made me more aware of how frail our world really is- Last time Tony won: Ellis wasn’t assassinated. Killian didn’t get a toe inside the White House. Rodriguez quietly resigned and was shuffled off into private life with no one the wiser. The illusion of a healthy, functioning system was maintained. But our world isn’t healthy. The existing systems can’t deal with alien invasions, with gods and monsters. S.H.I.E.L.D. spent decades covering up that truth. Tony and his ‘privatized world peace’ B.S.? Natasha telling Congress that the Avengers were qualified to defend the world? It was a crutch. The system was broken, anyone who looked could see that but we promised to keep it limping along… And we were good, or maybe just lucky.” Bruce shook his head ruefully, “We made it work… For awhile... This time, without Tony, our luck ran out early. There are eighteen people in the U.S. Presidential line of succession; Currently seven of them died with the President and six more are tainted either by association with Killian or HYDRA. There’s no hiding from the fact that we’re not ready for the sort of catastrophes that CAN happen… And believe me, this timeline is still the better option. Half the Universe is DEAD, turned to dust and gone in a single second, in the time I come from.”

Bruce paused to look around the room, making eye contact with Betty, Rhodes, Pepper and Happy in turn. “We weren’t ready for Thanos. We _aren’t_ ready for any of this. The Universe isn’t going to sit on its hands and wait for us to get ready. Before it gets worse we have to _get_ ready and I don’t mean a few extraordinary individuals, I mean all of us.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

“Whilst we did rush into battle, Man of Iron and his exquisitely fierce companion held back, defending the Seiðkonur as Odin commanded, and thus they were gifted a most spectacular foe,” Thor declared expansively as he stood at the head of the banquet table, a flagon of mead lifted high. “The last Kursed, the Dark Elves’ specially imbued Berserkers-”

As Thor went on recounting the battle Tony glanced around the hall, searching for the mages who had kept the Aether from falling into Malekith’s hands.

The returning war party had broken into several groups at the Observatory. Thor and a contingent of Asir Warriors had departed to the dungeons to oversee the incarceration of few surviving Dark Elves taken prisoner during the battle.

Eir, exhausted as she had been from the containing the Aether, had directed her staff through a quick triage. They’d applied bandages and stitches on the spot. Only the most severely injured warriors were taken away, presumably to Asgard’s version of an infirmary, while everyone deemed fit to stand continued on, following Odin in a victory procession through the streets of Asgard to the Throne Room. There Odin had spoken at length of the bravery, skill and ferocity of the Asir warriors, crediting them with the defeat of Malekith and his army.

Frigga sat silently at Odin’s left hand, she looked wane and exhausted from the battle. When she was required to stand in accordance with the night’s ceremonies, Odin always had a hand under her elbow that looked more supportive than formal.

While Odin had been speaking, servants had brought out tables and laid out a rich banquet ‘in honor of those who fought for Asgard’s glory’. Once Odin had finished praising Asgard’s warriors he presented Eir and her two Novitiates each with a small chest, as ‘a reward for their assistance.’

Tony found himself sneering at the way that, even as Odin honored the mages, he set them apart from Asgard’s warriors. But he reminded himself that they needed Asgard’s support and bit his tongue.

Speaking for her students as well as herself, Eir had graciously accepted the boon. Then the senior healer hustled her two students out of the hall while the warriors took their seats. When Tony saw Thor’s blond friend pull a serving girl into his lap he got the feeling that, whether or not the three of them would have been welcome at the feast, Eir had her own reasons for sending her students to bed early.

As for the fifth mage, Loki had disappeared somewhere between their return from Svartalfheim and Asgard’s throne room.

Tony didn’t like it, any of it. He leaned over and whispered to Nebula, “Do you think it would be a major faux pas if I walk out while Thor’s still recounting my glorious contribution to the battle while ignoring the people who really did the brunt of the work?”

“Why are you asking me?” Nebula replied. “I don’t care if they take insult or not.”

“We need them to keep the Reality Stone out of Thanos’ hands,” Tony reminded himself as much as Nebula. “The ability to warp reality is too much of an edge to let him get his hands on it again.”

Nebula eyed the Asir sitting nearby and lowered her voice, “With you and the Space Stone being a package deal, we’ll be lucky if we don’t have to fight our way out. It doesn’t matter if they like us, Odin won’t surrender the Reality Stone unless Thanos pries it out of his cold, dead hand.”

 

“They did last time,” Tony pointed out.

“They had the Space Stone last time,” Nebula said. “Only a fool would keep two Stones in close proximity without the Gauntlet to force them into cooperation.”

“We’ve had two Stones bumming around Earth for centuries.”

“Your point?” Nebula asked flatly.

Tony chuckled, “Yeah, I guess Quill and I aren’t exactly stellar examples of Homosapien restraint or good sense.”

Nebula shrugged awkwardly. “Gamora can keep her Terran… And I will keep mine.”

“Awwweee, you’re making me blush,” Tony teased. He grinned when he caught the faint hint of color creeping across Nebula’s cheeks in response. “But seriously: What do you want to bet that they tossed Reindeer Games back in his cell along with the Dark Elves?”

“He’d served his purpose,” Nebula said, her mouth thinning.

“Yeah, that’s the vibe I’m getting.” Tony agreed. “So there’s room for one more on your ship? I still don’t exactly like him but… Well, call me a bleeding heart, but whether Frigga finagles him as our liaison or we kidnap him out of his cell Loki’s coming with us when we go, right?”

“Agreed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the Infinity Stones are supposed to predate the birth of the Universe. Big Bang or Big Bounce, that still means Thor’s plan in TDW sucked. His hammer might have been forged in the heart of a dying star (a supernova) but the Infinity Stones (somehow) survived all stars, all matter, EVERYTHING being condensed to a single point of infinite heat and density. Mjolnir is NOT going to destroy something that survived the birth of the Universe (Bucky can be excused in thinking that an Infinity Stone can be destroyed because he’s only had Steve as a source of information on them and Steve is technically, logically and reality challenged). 
> 
> However, with a proper plan, focusing on containing the Aether rather than the impossibility of destroying it, there is no reason for the fight to spill over to Earth... or to have it on Asgard.


	16. Organize

**~ Tony ~**

_A massive crowd was gathered beneath the impossibly full sky. “All things end,” the being standing on the raised platform intoned. “And all things begin again. This is our ending. That all may be made new again. But we will allow ourselves a small selfishness: To not be forgotten.”_

_The being gestured to stones of orange and yellow. “Our Soul, Our knowledge preserved that our essence may be discovered and known to those who will come after us.”_

_Then the being gestured to the other four stones. “To make that possible: Repositories to capture a piece of the moment when Space and Time cease to exist. When all Potential is concentrated in one point and Reality is in flux.”_

A pulse of hurt and jealousy hit Tony and resonated. He opened his eyes on a vision of endless blue and the feeling that he could reach out and touch anything. “You won’t be a tool to be used,” Tony murmured, putting words to the feeling that filled every space within and without.

“But will you be my partner?”

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“So Pepper and I have been talking,” Rhodes said when Bruce and Betty joined them in the penthouse for their Thursday night group dinner.

“That sounds… ominous,” Bruce said.

Pepper chuckled, “About what you said: How the Earth needs to get ready.”

“Now hear me out before you say anything,” Rhodes said. “A couple of years ago the Defense Department had me write a threat assessment on Iron Man, I concluded that the best way to balance the good he could do against the danger he represented would be to fold him into the existing command structure. Given the current political disarray in this country-“

“And Dad,” Betty interjected bluntly.

Rhodes nodded in agreement, “Given that, I’m thinking we go to the UN. This is about establishing a global response to alien invasion after all. Manhattan might have borne the brunt of the last one but Loki did give Stuttgart a taste of what they might have been facing, the national borders we’ve fought over for centuries mean fuck-all to, you know, space-aliens. Tony hated the idea of being under the government’s thumb, I mean, I know he heard about it in the worst way possible: A congressional hearing and me being sprung on him as a witness against him… But he was always going to hate it. After all the bullshit Howard pulled on him, Tony was never going to respond well to anyone trying to control him.” Rhodes grimaced, “...If he could see it. Tony fought so hard against obvious control, but he’d miss assholes like Stane.... I missed Stane too, the bastard.”

“I could see that,” Bruce said. “When I came back to Earth, before we turned back the clock, and started filling myself in on what had happened while I’d been gone. I- I wondered about how it could have been Tony who decided oversight was a good thing when he shut down SI’s weapon’s business and started the whole Iron Man thing because government oversight wasn’t good enough… But now I see it. It wasn’t just guilt over Sokovia. And sure, Ross might have been involved but it was his best friend who first proposed oversight as the solution.”

“You really think?” Rhodes asked with awkward embarrassment.

“Yeah, I think,” Bruce stated. “So… We’re jump-starting the Accords?”

“We have to,” Pepper said. “There has to be a framework in place to protect the rights of the Enhanced while allowing them to come forward and offer to help. And a framework to protect the unEnhanced as well. Having a system of laws may seem restrictive at first glance but really it’s not. It’s setting expectations for how we can ALL respect each other’s rights, agreeing to methods of conflict resolution before there’s a conflict so we don’t have to figure it out while tempers are running high. It’s sitting down up front and saying this is what I’m willing to give… And this is what I need in return. It’s the only way society works.”

Betty nodded, “All the way back to the Hammurabi Code. Sure the laws seem pretty outrageous by modern standards but having a written code is what makes equality under the law possible. That there’s something to refer to when deciding what is the law and what the punishments would be. Without a written law it’s all subjective, based on the moment and the surrounding emotions.”

“This wouldn’t just be about the Enhanced,” Rhodes interjected. “Almost every country in the world has some sort of military. Speaking as someone who’s been in the military since I was eighteen, if something’s attacking the planet we’re going want in on that. There may be as many different reasons for enlisting as there are military personnel out there but somewhere in there we all signed on with the idea we were going to be protecting our homes, our families. And if the Earth’s under attack? Well, even if I didn’t have War Machine I wouldn’t be standing on the sidelines. All those soldiers, ready and willing to do their duty, they are a resource, a massive resource that we cannot afford to waste. But we need to get organized: How do baseline militaries work with the Enhanced? Hell, how militaries who are normally at each other’s throat work together? Under what circumstances do we set aside business as usual and realize there’s an outside threat bigger than- than anything else… Half the fucking Universe! I can’t even imagine.”

“It will be restrictive,” Bruce warned. “The UN is very conservative about getting involved. This running around the globe, chasing bad guys, fighting the good fight wherever and whenever we want, it’s not going to get a pass.

“Me personally? I’m okay with never fighting a battle where the fate of the planet isn’t at stake. But that was apparently the deal breaker for those that didn’t sign last time: NOT being able to decide when and where they were needed… That, and the fear of being sent somewhere they didn’t agree but don’t ask me to explain the reasoning behind that. I was the only one on the team who had any reason to think they could be used as a point and shoot weapon and I don’t even believe that’s true anymore. It might not be me that makes the call if you threaten my life but the other guy, now I get that he has ideas about right and wrong. And that makes the thought of losing control less scary. The rest of them? If they got a bad order, they have the ability to say no.”

“Yeah,” Rhodes said. “Being given an order doesn’t mean you never sign over responsibility for your actions.”

“That said,” Bruce heaved a deep sigh. “Even if we go to the UN, there’s still a very real danger of Ross gaining undue influence. He did last time and right now, it looks like all the headway I’d made in declawing him is gone. After the help he gave us in dealing with Killian he’s in a stronger position than I’ve ever seen him in.”

“Well then,” Pepper said crisply. “We just need to step up our game. Be sure to pick Fred’s brain about how to counter the PR campaign Ross is currently running to bolster himself at Hulk’s expense.”

* * *

 

**~ Tony ~**

“So,” Tony said as the evening’s feast drew to a close. “Malekith is dealt with. The Aether is in good hands. Asgard has been warned about Thanos. Seems like it’s time for Nebula and I to go. We’ll totally call you when it’s time to take the over-sized grape down.” He glanced towards Frigga, “You know, we could really use a liason. Some to keep us in contact so your warriors know when and where the fight is when the time comes…. Maybe someone who’s already been helping us catch up on what Asgard knows about the Infinity Stones?”

Odin frowned. “The Aether and the Space Stone must be kept from Thanos’ grasp. There is nowhere more secure than Asgard. I cannot allow you to leave. However your mission is important, I will assign one of our finest warriors to assist Lady Nebula in spreading the word of Thanos coming.” Odin paused thoughtfully.

“This should be good,” Tony murmured to Nebula.

“It’s irrelevant,” Nebula replied in a low voice. “You will be with me when I leave.”

“Fandral,” Odin declared and the blond swashbuckler stood up from his place at the banquet. “As Thor has been tasked with retrieving the scepter from Midgard, you will assist Lady Nebula in raising the alarm.”

“Well, he picked someone with style, if not a brain,” Tony sighed. He waited for Frigga to intervene.

“No,” Nebula stated. “I will not leave Tony Stark in your keeping.”

“Then you may stay as well,” Odin replied. “Sif, Volstagg, you will go with Fandral. Speak with the Midgardian and his companion to learn where they have yet to go. Although, with three Stones here it will only be a matter of time before this Thanos comes to meet his defeat at Asgard’s hands.”

The hall erupted in cheers at Odin’s declaration.

“Plan B?” Nebula inquired softly.

“Plan B,” Tony confirmed.

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

“No,” Fury stated without looking up from the papers covering his desk.

“You have to listen to me,” Steve protested as he closed the door behind him.

“Listening is a waste of both our time. I already know what you’re going to say: You want Barnes, Romanoff and Barton assigned to you as a task force to go take down a possible HYDRA base in Eastern Europe,” Fury said. “Just like the last four times you darkened my door.”

“The scepter is important,” Steve stated forcefully. “We can’t leave it in HYDRA’s hands.”

“And that would be why I told Hill to have the four hundred and fifteen agents answering to her, who have been specifically tasked with the eradication of HYDRA, to be on the lookout for it and for any rumors of human experimentation or efforts to create Enhanced,” Fury said with ill-concealed impatience.

“They won’t be able to handle Strucker,” Steve insisted.

Fury looked unimpressed. “You’d be surprised at what my agents can handle. Romanoff and Barton are good but they aren’t the only ones around here who have their shit together.”

“But the Sokovian base-“

“In your timeline, where Killian was a footnote and Pierce got Project Insight in the air before you shut him down,” Fury interrupted. “In this timeline all our data says that Castle hasn’t been an active base for anyone since the seventies.”

“Then send us somewhere,” Steve argued. “You must have something on Strucker, S.H.I.E.L.D. was paying him a salary less than a year ago.”

“We’ve got people watching his kid’s fraternity. If Strucker makes contact we’ll have something. Until then … I suppose we could bring the kid in, see what he knows. A kid like that, break a finger or two, a little waterboarding, he’d give it up… But personally, I wouldn’t tell that little dipshit anything, so I don’t see the point. Besides, I figured you’d have issues with interrogating a nineteen year old.”

“You’d- Of course I’d- Why would you-” Steve stammered.

“Yeah,” Fury cut him off dryly. “So, you can see I’m already doing everything I can about your concerns.”

“I’m not doing the dancing monkey routine,” Steve snapped realizing immediately what Fury was getting at. “Send Bucky and I on a real mission.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t run on happy thoughts and pixie dust, Rogers,” Fury growled. “So grow up and get your ass over to the White House, convince Mason that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s dealt with it’s problems internally and it’s time to put us back on the budget. If all they’ve got to complain about is that she was born off base while her old man was stationed in Japan it’s almost certain that Congress is going to confirm her.

“And since you’re such a fan of Barton’s. While you’re there you could remind her that the president he tried to assassinate has confessed to conspiring to murder his predecessor.” Fury grimaced, “Your buddy, Barnes has a point about Barton. Signs his work like a god-damn serial killer with that bow.” 

* * *

**~ Tony ~**

Tony resisted the urge to pout when he poked his head through a portal into Loki’s cell beneath Asgard and was only greeted with a mild, raised eyebrow.

“So,” he said. “I was getting to know my new ‘friend’,” he tapped the Space Stone powered arc reactor embedded in his chest, “And his- Her? Zir? -capabilities and I thought… Why not try kidnapping from the other side of the equation. Apparently Spacey? Nah. Ze’s on board ‘cause here I am. You game for that Rudolph?”

“This is a kidnapping, not a jailbreak?” Loki asked.

“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to,” Tony replied with a shrug. “You coming or staying?”

Leisurely Loki stood up and sauntered through the gap in reality.

Nebula glanced up from where she sat at the controls of her ship. “Secure yourself, the ‘plan’ has some holes from here on out.”

“Like whether or not I can ask the Space Stone for a portal big enough to fly a ship through,” Tony added.

“Or you could just allow me to enter the override codes for the hanger doors,” Loki said as he took a seat at the ship’s comm station. “Mother will be consulting Heimdall on an important matter… For another twenty minutes… Quite thoroughly occupied. Mother’s weavings suggest that Odin will exile me before word of my escape gets out, there will be no pursuit.”

“You can’t quit, I fired you,” Tony chuckled.

“A reworking of my sentence in recognition of the service I provided against Malekith,” Loki replied archly. “No one need know that I left before it was decreed.”

As Loki went to enter the codes Tony reached out and caught his hand. “No wait, I want to try this,” he said. “Picture Odin’s face if this berth and your cell are both just empty when he comes looking.”

“While I am above attachment to mayflies… I might have to admit to liking your style,” Loki said, sitting back in his seat.

Tony closed his eyes. “Okay, let’s do this. Scotty, beam us away.” When he opened his eyes, the Milano floated in front of them against a backdrop of deep space, half the ship was dark and there was a gaping hole in the upper hull.

“A derelict? You know the nicest spots,” Loki asked in disinterested tone while the other two could only stare in shock.

Nebula spun toward him, teeth bared in a snarl.

Tony put a hand on her arm. “Let’s- Let’s get over there. See what help they need. Your sister’s tough, they all are. They’re- Well, let’s just get over there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter but I think this is the best break point given the plan for the next couple chapters.


	17. Carrying On (Feeling like Shit)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter switches to Rocket’s POV. I thought about having Rocket retell the events leading up to Tony, Loki and Nebula stumbling upon the Milano floating derelict in space but deviating from the format seem to be the better choice. I’ll probably have similar ‘catch up’ chapters for Shuri and Scott Lang when they make their appearances.

**~ Rocket (earlier) ~**

“I admit, the thing with the troll doll was not cool,” Quill said. “You guys jumped in and helped us save Xander, you deserved to be rewarded. Not Orb but-“

Yondu looked unimpressed. The other Ravengers grumbled angrily.

“Look, we’re Ravagers not Destroying-half-the-life-in-the-Universe-assholes,” Peter argued. Kraglin Obfonteri’s head jerked up, a flash of recognition crossing his face. “‘Cause that’s what the Orb is about. So what’d you want with it anyway? We got you pardons from Xander. Clean slates, just like we got.”

“That’ll last all of Y-cyc,” Yondu said dismissively. “We’re Ravagers, boy.”

“Yeah,” Rocket sighed. “Those Nova Corps Guys just don’t get ‘But I wanted it more’.”

“Not helping,” Quill hissed.

“You wanna know why we wanted the Orb? You know why: Units,” Yondu said. “You wanna make-up? It’s gonna cost ya.”

“Four billion units,” Taserface muttered. “We’re all supposed to pretend Quill’ll see that in a lifetime?”

“Your buyer would have used it,” Quill said. “And that’s the last thing you want, any of us wants.”

“We’ll talk to Stakar Ogord,” Rocket said. “If anyone’s got a right to plead your case it’s Quill ain’t it? I mean he’s one of those kids you trafficked. ‘Course it might help if he knew why you took him… And why you kept him.”

Muttering broke out among the Ravagers. Quill through Rocket a dirty look. “What?” Rocket whispered innocently. “It’s why we’re here ain’t it? Not just so you and Yondu can get your heads out of your asses.”

“I would have asked him,” Quill hissed back. “When the time was right.”

“Oh? And when would that be?” Rocket asked.

“Not now!” Quill snapped.

“Who cares about the Ravagers or their Code?” Taserface declared. “It doesn’t put any units in my pocket. The Orb, now that would have been more units than any of us had ever seen, but Quill betrayed us and gave it to the Nova Corps.”

Rocket’s lips drew back in a snarl, his paw drifted towards the oversized blaster strapped across his back but ultimately he turned back to Yondu. “That’s right,” he said. “Who here cares about the Code? Maybe it’s time you looked around and asked yourself that: Who here cares about being a Ravager? Who’s family? And who here is nothing more than a mercenary? Loyal to no one, ready to do anything, betray anyone, all for a couple of units.”

Rocket sauntered up to Yondu, he tilted his head back challengingly “You care about the Code… Even though you broke it.”

“Think you’ve ran your mouth enough,” Yondu said sourly.

“Breaking the Code was never the plan, was it?” Rocket continued. “You were just gonna bend it a little. No big deal. No one’d get hurt. It didn’t matter, isn’t that right? But I know you Yondu. You’ve never regretted anything more. Couldn’t get it out of your head. You couldn’t turn Quill over. And you couldn’t just take him back. He needs to know why.”

Yondu glanced around at his crew, “When someone lays out units like that you know it’s to shut up y’er conscious,” he admitted. “But you let work ‘cause it’s that much, and ‘cause you don’t have to know. ‘Til y’er faced with bodies piled up higher than a man and some of ‘em you recognize. Too many of them that you put there.

“Those of you been with me since the beginning, you all know we done broke the Code and we was cast out for it. We could have gone on like we’d started, what more could they have done to us?” Yondu shook his head, “But we didn’t. We went back to the Code. We lived by it. We taught it to the ones we brung in new.

“Throw away the Code and you throw away that part you that stops when someone needs a hand, not cause of what you might get but because of every time you needed someone to stop. Throw away the Code, you throw away what lets you look in the mirror and know yer better than the ones what put you on this path.” Yondu walked up to Taserface and glared down at him, “Throw away the Code and you throw away what lets you turn your back on the one next to you and know you won’t get a knife in the back for it. So if you think the Code ain’t important… Well, right now might be a good time for a parting of the ways. ‘Fore there’s any hard feeling, you understand me?”

“You can’t threaten me,” Taserface snarled.

Yondu smiled showing his pointed, mismatched teeth. “You think that’s a threat? Shit, if that’s what you call a threat you gonna have a goddamn heart attack when I actually get around to making a threat. That was just a suggestion… For anybody that don’t want to see me make a threat.” He turned away from Taserface dismissively.

“Quill, you and me’s gotta have a talk.”

 

* * *

 

_‘Wish I knew what he was going to say,’_ Rocket thought as he stared at the door Yondu and Quill had disappeared behind. _‘Guess this is what I get for passing off telling it. Still, wish I knew what he was saying. If there weren’t so many nosey Ravagers around I’d fix some way to eavesdrop.’_

Then Rocket spotted Taserface gathering his things and skulking off with a few, much fewer than he would have had if Quill hadn’t returned, flunkies and snickered a little. _‘Take just a couple minutes to rig-up something to make their engine go kablooie a couple hours after they leave. Blow a nice big hole in their ship’s hull, see how they do breathing vacuum.’_ He was in the process of sideling over Taserface’s ship, his hands already full of odds and ends he’d picked up when Kraglin intercepted him.

“It’s real ain’t it?” Kraglin asked. “The shit in my head saying all my friends are dead.”

Rocket jerked in surprised and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Then he recovered himself and heard the scruffy Ravager. “Yeah, except for you and me, if you even count me, every last fucking person in Clan Yondu is going to be dead in less than five years.”

“I’m drinking with a buddy and it’s all good, then in my head I’m staring at a spaced corpse,” Kraglin whispered. He shot a fugitive look towards Taserface, “Or I wanna kill ‘em myself,” he snarled.

“Yeah?” Rocket asked. He pulled the device he’d been assembling out of his pocket then glanced toward Taserface’s ship. “‘Cause all you’ve gotta do is… nothing… for about five minutes. By this time tomorrow…” he grinned viciously.

“It’s real?” Kraglin pressed.

“It’s real. There are worse things out there, I won’t say there aren’t, but your buddies… They ain’t gonna last long enough for worse, ‘cause of him,” Rocket nodded toward Taserface.

Kraglin look around again, his eyes pausing on each of his shipmates faces. He breathing became ragged and harsh. “Do it,” he hissed. “Do it. I don’t care that he ain’t done it yet. Do it.”

Rocket patted Kraglin on the knee. Then he casually sauntered beneath Taserface’s ship. Several minutes later he came back dusting off his empty hands and whistling cheerfully.

“Why do I remember?” Kraglin asked, his voice breaking. “Why, when no one else does? It’s like my head is full of ghosts of people ain’t yet dead and I don’t know why.”

“‘Cause you were alive I supposed,” Rocket said with a shrug as he pulled himself up onto a crate and sat beside the Ravager. “You weren’t there when we took down Thanos. I don’t know where you were, but Ogord was. I got a couple of minutes to talk with him and he’d spent the time after the Snap checking on all of his. He said he hadn’t heard tell of you being dusted, it stands to reason you were still alive when we went back.”

“We ain’t gonna let it happen again,” Kraglin said. “I don’t know ‘xactly what happened, it’s all jumbled flashes in my head, like fever glimpses through multi-jump, but I know it was bad. And we ain’t letting it happen again.”

Rocket patted him on the shoulder as Kraglin blinked back tears, “We’re not gonna let it happen again,” he promised. “We’re gonna kill the bastard first.” Then he shrugged as glanced back towards Taserface’s sabotaged ship, “Or all the bastards.”

 

* * *

 

 

Several days later the Guardians were back on the Milano on their way to a summit with the Ravagers Clans in good standing. And Rocket holding a stethoscope-type thing to the wall of the Milano.

Drax wandered over whispered very loudly, “What are you doing?”

“Shut up,” Rocket replied absently. “Quill’s about to tell Gamora what Yondu told him about Ego.”

“Mmm.” Drax looked thoughtful for several moments. “I am not particularly interested in the personal details of how Quill came to be raised by the Ravagers.”

“Well I am,” Rocket snapped. “I need to know what blanks Yondu might have left that I still have to fill in.”

“You can’t ask Quill?” Drax asked

“No, I can’t ask Quill,” Rocket sneered. “He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. And he doesn’t share with me like he does with Gamora.”

“He does not wish to engage in sexual relations with you,” Drax observed.

“Let’s all be thankful,” Rocket snorted, “But you know what I’d also be thankful for? You, shutting up so I can eavesdrop in peace.”

“You could have just said,” Drax replied and walked off with a shrug.

Rocket rolled his eyes and went back to listening.

“Rocket wasn’t kidding about my -er- About Ego getting around,” Quill said uncomfortably. “Yondu told me he’d made a dozen other ‘pick-ups’ for him before me and they weren’t the only crew Ego had out collecting up the results of him -um- sowing oats all over the galaxy. Yondu says he picked me up like normal but when he got to the drop off place Ego was sleeping and he went looking around- Curious about the other kids he’d brought, he said but I know Yondu, he was probably casing the joint.”

“And what did he find?” Gamora asked.

Quill swallowed audibly. “You heard- Bodies. I was still on the Ravagers ship, ‘no merchandise before payment’, it’s a standard rule with Yondu. So he finds a mountain of dead kids under Ego’s house, like some sort of paternal Bluebeard thing, and Yondu runs, before Ego can wake up- taking me along for the ride. He says he didn’t take me back to Earth because someone else would have eventually brought me back there, that living with the Ravagers was the safest place for me but...”

“Yondu kidnapped you, took you from your family on Earth,” Gamora said.

“Sort of,” Quill said but didn’t elaborate. “Yondu always going on about how I ought to be grateful he didn’t let anyone eat me and how he only kept me around ‘cause I was a skinny little kid and could get into places. Now he wants me to believe he’s some sort of hero for NOT turning me over to be murdered? …For keeping me.”

“She should remind him Yondu could have killed his parents and raised him as a mass murderer instead of an outlaw-thief,” Drax remarked.

Rocket jumped. “I thought you didn’t want to know?” he snapped.

Drax shrugged, “I got bored. Quill is whining. He could have been made an experiment like you. Or he could be dead, like my Kamaria.”

“Or he could be reborn as a seedling and being raised by us. Yeah Drax, I am aware our baseline is fucked up and fucked over,” Rocket growled.

“We will do well by Groot,” Drax assured him.

“I let him die,” Rocket scoffed bitterly, “Doesn’t that put me behind the fuckers who made me? They managed to keep me alive at least.”

“You found a way to come back to stop him from dying,” Drax said seriously. “All I have been able to do for Kamaria and Hovat is kill Ronan. Even when we kill Thanos they will still be dead.”

Rocket avoided answering by turning his attention back to Quill and Gamora. “I guess I just feel like Yondu kept me as some sort of penance for those other kids he got murdered,” Quill was saying. “And now I’m supposed to go to Stakar Ogord and tell him what a great dad Yondu was to me? He never cared about me!”

“Quill and Yondu deserve each other,” Rocket complained in a low voice, more to himself than to Drax. “Yondu’s whole damn crew knew Quill’s as good as his kid, his favorite kid. They all knew, no matter what, Yondu’d always come when Quill called and that he’d always take any stupid excuse if it’d give Quill another chance to come back into the fold. It’s why there was a mutiny, why damn near every last one of ‘em that stayed loyal to Yondu died. I go outta my way to give him a chance for something better than being forgiven after he was dead and he still leaves Quill thinking he doesn’t care? And Quill? What’s he? Blind? Fucking morons both of them.” He turned to Drax, “Help me keep from screwing Groot up? I mean it’s just pathetic that Quill’s least messed up of us.”

Drax laughed at that.

Rocket turned back towards the wall he’d been listening at, “Yondu didn’t tell Quill the worst of it,” he said distantly. “Now that I think about it- He probably never knew.”

“Quill’s father meant to kill him,” Drax said in his normal booming voice. “What could be worse?”

Rocket turned to hush him then froze, seeing Quill and Gamora standing in the open door behind him.

“Gotta say, I’m sort of -um- invested- in hearing that myself,” Quill said.

Rocket’s shoulders slumped. “Come on,” he said leading the the way back into the room where Quill and Gamora had been having their ‘private’ conversation. “And don’t listen you two! Quill can tell you if wants you to know!”

“That is very hypocritical of him,” Drax said to Gamora as Quill went to close the door.

Inside Rocket picked up a couple spare parts from the floor and started fiddling with them.

“My real dad’s some sort of freak who sired kids all over the cosmos then paid a damn fortune to have pirates round ‘em up so he could kill ‘em. What do you know about him that’s worse than that?” Quill demanded after several long moments of silence.

Rocket sighed. “He killed your mom.”

Quill shook his head in denial, “You don’t know anything. My mom had cancer.”

“He put the tumor in her head,” Rocket said tiredly.

Quill’s eyes shifted, turning an unnatural shade of blue. Rocket felt his jaw drop, staring hypnotized at something not-Quill shining through those eyes, as Quill slammed him into the wall.

“You’re lying!” Quill snarled. Everything seemed to slow down as Quill’s fist drew back. In disjointed flashes Rocket remembered raising his arms to shield himself. The sense of relief and confused _‘I’m tough, I could have taken a punch.’_ when the blow flew past his cheek to strike the bulkhead with a muffled boom. The blue vanishing from Quill’s eyes to be replaced with a look of horror. Turning to see Quill fist sunk midway to the elbow in the bulkhead, energy discharge crackling around his arm. “Oh shi-“ Everything vanishing into a white-hot blur of pain and nothingness…

 

* * *

 

 

The side of his face was hot and cold and numb all at once. His body ached.

“I don’t think this is a good idea. You nearly killed him.”

“I just- I need to see him. Apologize.”

Voices coming closer.

Opening his eyes felt like more effort than he could manage.

“He is still unconscious. He won’t hear you, so what is the point?”

“Oh God- I never meant-”

Something ancient and terrible looking at him through Quill’s eyes. The explosion. _‘Get away! Get Away!’_

“Stop him! He’ll hurt himself _more_ if he fall off the bed!”

Rapid, retreating footsteps. Gentle restraining hands.

 

* * *

 

 

The next time Rocket woke up, Drax was sleeping in the chair next to his bed, feet propped up on the end of the bed and Groot was sleeping in his pot was sitting nearby. _‘Quill is just Quill. He’s got Ego’s genes, I know that. That’s why everything went nuts- Or it was just a freak accident. Ego can’t reach across the Galaxy and just puppet Quill. I was seeing things.’_

Rocket kicked Drax’s foot to wake him up, “What the hell happened?”

“The core of the lateral laser canon exploded,” Drax said matter-of-a-factly.

Rocket gulped, “How’m I even alive?”

“Quill shielded you.”

Rocket had a flash of being pulled against Quill’s chest and spun around _“How? Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.”_

“His body also served to direct most of the explosion outward,” Drax continued. “He is much sturdier than I had believed. Only the command sector of the ship was damaged. I held the decompression doors open while Gamora ran inside and dragged you both out.”

Rocket looked at Groot. “You shouldn’t have,” he said flatly.

“We were quick… Like a fast thing,” Drax said.

“Keep working on those similes,” Rocket sighed.

“I got you a ‘get well’ gift,” Drax changed the subject by presenting Rocket with a small, crudely wrapped present.

Rocket grabbed it and ripped away the paper to reveal a mechanical eye, “You gave me an eye from my own collection?”

“Yes, I got it from your room,” Drax confirmed. “And wrapped it. Your collection of prosthetics are the only spare body parts on the ship.”

Rocket reached up and felt bandages covering the left side of his head. He remembered turning to look just before the explosion. “Shit, my eye?”

“And your ear on that side,” Drax said. “The outer part. Our scans say the inner ear and eardrum suffered only minor, correctable damage. You will still hear on that side… Almost as well as before.”

“This day just keeps getting better,” Rocket groaned.

“It does not,” Drax corrected. “The Milano is derelict. We will have to find parts and bring them back if we wish to make the ship functional again. You are injured. Quill feels bad.”

“Oh boo, hoo. So he feels guilty! He should,” Rocket snapped.

“I do not know which emotion he feels. I mean he’s puking,” Drax corrected. “He came in here, you started screaming and he ran away. When Gamora found him he was vomiting.”

Rocket glanced up, interested, “Yeah?”

Drax nodded. “A lot. For nearly 0.05 H-Cycs, until something burst in his throat and he switched to choking up blood. It was disgusting and I am not cleaning it up. Looking at you caused him more damage than the explosion.”

“Good,” Rocket said bitterly as his thumb smoothed over the surface of the replacement eye.

“We called the Ravagers,” Drax said. “The good news is you were right about Yondu coming. They should arrive shortly.”

 

* * *

 

 

When Drax left to see if the Ravagers could get the Milano moving again he left the door to the medbay cracked open. Not long after Rocket heard voices drifting in from the hall.

“Where you going?” Gamora demanded.

“You heard Yondu, Ego’s coming for me,” Quill said. “I’m leaving before I get more people hurt.”

“We are a team,” Gamora stated. “You do not leave.”

“You saw what I did, how he reacted. He shouldn’t have to be around me,” Quill argued. “And Groot? He’s just a baby now. What are we doing put him in the middle of a fight?”

Rocket wanted to call out and tell Quill he was being a moron, that they’d deal with Ego together but his voice wouldn’t cooperate.

“I do not need protecting. I will go with you,” Gamora said.

“You shouldn’t,” Quill argued but Rocket knew he wouldn’t be leaving alone.

 

* * *

 

 

Kraglin was the next person to drop into the Medbay. “Went over the damage- The big guy said _Quill_ did that? With his _HAND_?”

Rocket nodded.

Kraglin gulped, “Guess we knew he wasn’t normal when he grabbed that Stone thing on Xander right? The rest of you helped but y’all told us touching it would kill a fella and Quill grabbed and _held_ it. Anyway, we don’t got enough hull metal to patch the hole, or the right drivetrain. Xanderians updated your special.”

“I can cobble up an adapter,” Rocket muttered.

“Still need a good big patch. We got screens and control panels the Captain says you can use… He went with Quill. Him, that big guy and the scary girl.”

“They all left, just me and Groot again and he’d of probably left if they’d given him the choice. Color me shocked,” Rocket said. He curled up turning his back on Kraglin.

“Captain said it’d be bad if Quill’s daddy got his hands on him. ‘Specially seeing as how it turns out Quill’s -um- different,” Kraglin said.

“Yeah, yeah it’d be bad,” Rocket sighed. “We got things to do before we want Ego shoving his nose in. ‘S probably better he’s got help staying ahead of the bastard, weird powers or not, Quill don’t know how take a shit without getting into some sort of trouble.”

Kraglin snorted, “Got that right. Think mebbe that’s why the Captain gets so heat up over him? ‘Cause the rest of us got more sense?”

“Yeah, that’s probably it.” Rocket said unhappily. He forced himself to sit up and started peeling the bandages off his face so he could shove the eye Drax had brought him in the empty socket. “We got work to do. Parts to scrounge.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My son discovered “Lego: Guardians of the Galaxy” on Netflix the other day… Lego!Thanos’ logic is so much better than MCU!Thanos’ reasoning: “I will turn the Universe into dust (Maw ha ha!!)… Wait, then who will worship me? Ahh, I will turn HALF the Universe into dust! And the OTHER half will bow down to me! (Maw ha ha ha!!!)” Sure it lacks that ‘well-intentioned extremist’ vibe but at least his plan is less doomed to failure than “I will randomly destroy half the life in the Universe and this will eliminate resource scarcity!”


	18. Out of the Woodwork

**~ Tony ~**

Tony felt an eager pulse from the Arc Reactor- _‘The Space Stone,’_ he reminded himself. -As the nanites rushed out of the casing and oozed out of his pores to cover him in the Bleeding Edge armor. “Everyone ready?” Tony asked.

Nebula activated her spacesuit and after a beat Loki did the same. A few seconds later the airlock cycled open, they kicked off and floated out into the void between Nebula’s ship and the drifting Milano.

“Right to the heart of the problem?” Tony suggested. “Enter through the hole?”

“No,” Nebula disagreed. “We did not detect life-signs, the escape pods haven’t been deployed but fuel trails indicate heavy traffic near the time of the explosion. It’s the rest of the ship that will tell us if there were survivors.”

“You two do recognize that the blast came from inside the ship?” Loki asked. “The cause may still be onboard.”

“If it’s still there...” Nebula’s smile promised a bloody, violent death to whatever had attacked the Guardians.

A short repulsor blast changed Tony’s trajectory. He caught a small handle set next to the Milano’s hatch and pressed a finger to the control panel. A thin wire formed of nanites infiltrated the panel and Tony quickly took control of the ship’s computer. “The locks have cycled since the emergency doors locked the bridge down,” he reported as he gestured for Nebula and Loki to proceed him into the open lock.

“I should go first,” Loki said as the compartment was pressurized. “I am less likely to disconcerted by anything we may find.”

“I don’t need to protected,” Nebula snapped.

Tony gave her shoulder a squeeze, “I’m sure you could manage but he’s got a point. These are our friends, we’re worried, it could cost a few seconds of reaction time.”

Nebula grimaced but subsided.

Tony gave his armor a mental comand and a small screen formed on his wrist. “Reindeer Games, these are the friendlies… They’re probably on a hair trigger so don’t get too far ahead. You’ve got point but they’ll need to see us to know you’re here to help.”

“Most of them will shoot even if they do recognize us,” Nebula added.

“Ah,” Loki said. “It will be a novel experience to be on the other side of that sort of relationship.”

“Opportunities for personal growth abound,” Tony said dryly. “Don’t shoot back. They’ve had a bad enough day already, yeah?”

Loki leaned over Tony’s shoulder to study the images of the Milano’s crew carefully. Tony took advantage of his proximity for a quiet “Thanks,” before the inner door of the airlock cycled open.

The hatch opened on a darkened cargo bay that had been half-converted to a common living space for the Guardians. The red emergency lighting lent the area an ominous air. “Engines are below,” Nebula murmured. “Crew quarters are in the aft, split between this level and the command deck above.”

Loki nodded and started towards the quarters. He leaned inside the first room, “Is this supposed to be a room or a spare parts repository?” he complained.

Tony peered past him, “Rocket’s room?” he asked. Then shook his head, “I’ve been impressed by his work but I haven’t worked with him enough to know his organization system.”

“Pack rat?” Loki asked.

Nebula shoved past him and climbed up the ladder to the crew quarters on the Command Deck. Tony and Loki hurried after her to a small room behind the bridge. “What are we looking for?” Tony asked.

Nebula kicked a pile of dirty clothes out of her way. “Gamora has to be the best at everything,” she said. “After Ego she just had to be the better sister. I left but she sent messages every few Rota; telling me about her team, trying to convince me to join them.” She dug into a small compartment behind the bed then sat back on her heels. “They took Quill’s ‘mixed-tapes’ and ‘Walkman’ when they left,” she declared.

“Good, that’s good,” Tony said. “Whatever happened they had time to pack.”

“Don’t read too much into it, Quill has been know to run into an exploding spacing station and engage in battle rather than escaping without those items,” Nebula said. “All this tells us was is that Quill was conscious when they abandoned the ship… Or one of them was conscious. From what Gamora told me it was better to remember to bring his music rather than deal with whatever insanity he would engage in to recover it.”

“Sounds like a nice team,” Tony said softly, easily translating the relaid comment: _“Rather shoot themselves in the foot than admit to caring… But they care.”_

Nebula nodded. “They were never my team,” she said bitterly.

_‘My team couldn’t even figure out that J.A.R.V.I.S. and FRIDAY were more than an egotistical personalization of Siri. There’s no way they’d give a damn about sentimental any possessions of mine,’_ Tony thought and saw matching bitterness in Loki’s eyes. “It’s a good data point,” he said. “They exist outside of theory; teams like that.”

 

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“You want _me_ to do the unveiling?” Bruce asked Pepper in disbelief.

Pepper gave him a look, “SI has made a practice of publicly recognizing the the scientific achievements of its people since the early seventies when Howard Stark was made to realize that he was going to have an awful lot of lawsuits on his hands if he didn’t improve his image when it came giving credit where credit was due. The new prothestitics division is your baby. You conceived the idea, you’ve headed the research and recruited new talent like Dr. Cho to realize it. Of course I want you to present it to the public now that we’re starting clinical trials.”

“But it’s just-” Bruce gave her a self-depreciating grin. “I don’t have much of a presence. Besides Dr. Cho’s work is the real revolution, I just helped her find an application she hadn’t previously considered.”

“No one likes public speaking Dr. Banner,” Pepper said tartly. “Not even Tony Stark.”

“Tony loves being the center of attention,” Bruce disagreed.

Pepper shook her head, “He just started training for it at four,” she said. “You’re out of practice and you’ve been off the grid for too long. It’s not only the Hulk who needs good publicity. _You_ are going to have to go up against Ross, in front of the media, in front of the world. You are going to have tell your story, explain what he did to you and make people believe it after years of him casting you as some sort of egotistical Dr. Jekyll, blatantly ignoring the scientific community’s collective wisdom by experimenting on yourself when your project didn’t get an official go-ahead and unleashing a monster through your hubris. The Hulk has done a lot to convince people that he’s a protector, not a monster. But you, Dr. Banner, need to be a strong presence too. The world needs to see _you_ , your contributions. They need to see you acting like a responsible, reputable scientist if they’re going to listen when you explain that what you injected into yourself that day wasn’t the project you’d worked on but a cocktail of several different projects which you had no knowledge of and thus no reason to check their compatibility.”

“I should have known,” Bruce said. “I should have suspected there was something more going on when Ross started talking about pulling funding- Betty and I were getting great results. I should have been more careful around him, the shovel talk I got from him was nothing short of psychotic, it should have clued me in. Still, I’m the one who LET myself be manipulated into that position. We’d barely started working with lab rats when I decided that testing it on myself was a reasonable, sane response to losing funding. I may be getting a lot closer to making my peace with the Hulk but that doesn’t change the fact that he was born of my screw-up, a screw-up that killed people. Betty easily could have been one of them.”

“I’m not going to say that what you did wasn’t the height of stupidity,” Pepper said. “But there is a difference, Bruce, between believing in yourself to the point where you subject _yourself_ to potentially lethal levels of radiation to prove that you were able to create an inoculation for Gamma Radiation poisoning... And believing in yourself to the point where you inject yourself with an unproven super soldier formula. Based on what _you knew_ , the worst outcome that a reasonable person could have anticipated was your own death. What Ross did behind your back? Based on Erskine’s surviving notes and the SSR’s conclusions about Johann Schmidt, a reasonable person _could_ have predicted that giving someone a variant of the Super Soldier serum might unleash a powerful, volatile being. And despite knowing that, Ross took no precautions against it because to do so would have to expose the true purpose of his project: Not to protect soldiers from radiation exposure in combat but to enable a person to survive the radiation exposure necessary to activate his version of the Super Soldier Serum.”

“Still, I don’t see how having me present the new prosthetic line will help,” Bruce said.

“Think of it as a warm-up for when you present the Enhanced’s side of the equation for the UN,” Pepper said.

“I thought Rhodes was going to do the talking?” Bruce squeaked.

“Most of it,” Pepper said. “But Rhodey has a suit, he isn’t really Enhanced, not like you are. It won’t be enough for you to stand beside him, you’re going to have to make them understand what it’s like to be you. And believe me, I will give you plenty of practice.

“Besides, ever since the ‘I am Iron Man’ press conference every time Tony ended up in the same room as a bunch of journalists a quarter of them just wanted to ask about Iron Man, regardless of the official topic.” She smirked, “They’re much more inclined to take you at your word if they think that they ambushed you.”

 

* * *

 

“Are there any questions?” Bruce concluded a week later.

“Dr. Banner, Christine Everhart with WHiH World News. What do think about Secretary Ross’ apology for shooting the Hulk during the Battle of the White House?”

Bruce smiled wryly at Pepper. “Should I ask if there are any questions about the technology before throwing the floor open to Hulk questions?” he asked.

“I’m seeing some glazed eyes,” Pepper replied. “I think you might have gotten a bit technical while you were rhapsodizing about Dr. Cho’s contribution to the project. It might be time for a change of pace.”

“How did I feel about getting shot by Thunderbolt Ross?” Bruce asked. “Um… Nostalgic? Once more for old time’s sake? I suppose after all the years he spent chasing, and shooting at, the Hulk it’s nice to know he’s grown as a person and could apologize. But really, it wasn’t me that he shot, if you guys are up for it… Why don’t you ask the Hulk how he feels about the General’s apology?”

“Well, I’m always up for an adventure,” Christine said. She glanced around at several of her colleagues, “Journalist, right guys? Let’s hear from the Big Guy. So, um, what do I do? Throw a rock at you or something?”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” Bruce replied. “Big part of the Hulk’s bad reputation comes from people ‘meeting’ him via taking a shot at me… Wouldn’t you wake up cranky if your alarm clock was… relatively speaking… some idiot pinging you with paintballs? Why don’t I just…” Bruce’s shoulders slumped as he ‘let go’. A green flush spread slowly up his neck and after a moment the seams in his jacket began to strain.

The Hulk cracked his neck and stretched, ripping away the tattered remains of Bruce’s shirt and jacket.

“Hi Hulk,” Christine said bravely.

“Hi girl,” Hulk replied.

“So… you heard about Secretary Ross going on TV to explain about why he shot you and that he was sorry?” she asked. “Instead of coming and apologizing to your face… Or Dr. Banner’s I suppose.”

The Hulk frowned thoughtfully. “For long time Ross hunt Hulk, Ross hate Hulk. Ross say ‘oops, no mean to hurt Hulk’.” The Hulk held up a massive hand and and tilted it back and forth. “Maybe accident, maybe… habit, Hulk no know.” The Hulk pointed to his head. “Ross sorry here.” He spread his hand over his heart, “Not here. Bad in here? Makes everything scary. So Ross _hide_ when saying sorry. Maybe someday heart accept what head know, then Ross no scared of Hulk anymore.”

“Wow,” Christine said.

Then before anyone knew what was happening a skinny kid, barely a teenager had slipped through the crowd and was up on the steps with the Hulk. “Mr. Hulk?” the kid blurted out. “Do you think Iron Man is okay? I mean I know Ms. Potts says so but Flash says there’s no way. Well, what does Flash know anyway? Except I sort of calculated how much oxygen could have been in the armor- I had to make a bunch of assumptions, so it’s not like it’s definitive or anything- But even if I’m generous with assumptions I come up with about ten minutes of air and well that’s not very long. It’s just- He saved me once- Not counting when he saved everyone from that nuke and- and do you think he’s okay?” The kid wound down managing to look hopeful and miserable all at once.

The Hulk took a step forward and an older man trying to push his way through the crowd gasped but the Hulk only put a hand on the kid’s shoulder… and half the kid’s back, “Tinman okay,” Hulk assured the kid.

“Really?” the kid asked, eyes shining.

The Hulk nodded. “Tinman go, protect us from Thanos. Him okay.”

“Right,” the kid said, nodding to himself. “He’s Iron Man, he’s okay. Flash is an idiot.” The Hulk laughed and gave the kid a light slap on the back. The kid straightened under the weight of the Hulk’s hand and grinned back up at the behemoth.

“Who’s Thanos?” someone asked.

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

Steve shoved past Fury’s assistant and threw the door to his office open. Fury looked up at the loud bang as the door slammed into the wall. “It’s coming out of your pay if there’s a hole in my wall,” he said, unimpressed.

“You sent Bucky out on a mission behind my back!?!” Steve demanded.

“Barton’s thinking about retiring. Barnes’ skill set is comparable,” Fury explained coolly. “You wouldn’t want Romanoff out there with no one to cover her ass would you?”

“Of course not but,” Steve stuttered. Then he straightened. “I should be with them!”

Fury snorted. “The day I send you on an information gathering mission…”

“Bucky needs me. He’s- he’s still recovering.”

“Romanoff thinks otherwise,” Fury said.

“With due respect, Director Fury, Natasha doesn’t know Bucky like I do,” Steve said frowning.

Fury smirked, “She says otherwise.”

“He shot her once, that hardly qualifies as knowing him,” Steve argued.

“Your friend Barnes doesn’t tell you everything does he,” Fury said with a smirk. “Well, as an old-fashion gentlemen, I wouldn’t really expect him to.”

Steve gapped.

“You were asking about new Enhanced,” Fury said, changing the subject. “We’ve got at least one new player. A series of attacks: weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs, satellite control systems.”

“What sort of powers?” Steve asked.

“Hard to say,” Fury replied. “Nobody gotten a good look yet. Most places all we end up with is a bunch of guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears and something too fast to see.”

“The twins,” Steve said. “You’ve got to send me to Sokovia!”

“Why the hell would I do that?” Fury said. “When all the data we’ve got says they’re based in New Jersey.”

 

* * *

 

 

**~ Bruce ~**

“Let’s go for a walk,” Rhodes suggested poking his head into Bruce’s lab. “I’ve got a car waiting.”

“You’ve got a car waiting so we can go for a walk?” Bruce asked.

“In Queens,” Rhodes clarified. “We’re going for a walk in Queens.”

“That’s rather random,” Bruce said.

Rhodes shrugged. “You coming?”

“I’ll meet you downstairs in ten?” Bruce offered gesturing to the centrifuge running behind him. Rhodes nodded and Bruce set to closing down his experiments.

“You remember that kid?” Rhodes asked as he got off the freeway in Queens. “The one from the press conference?”

“The Hulk’s new buddy?” Bruce asked.

“He’s the one Tony told me to keep an eye,” Rhodes said. “Apparently the kid gets powers at some point. I thought Tony had lost his mind when he started talking about how he wanted me to be a mentor to some superhero-to-be… Until you confirmed that Tony had come back from the future. And now the kid shows up like that.” Rhodes found a garage and parked. “I’m wonder if maybe he’s already got powers. Thought it couldn’t hurt to hang around the neighborhood a bit, see what we see.”

After a half-hour of aimless meandering, the two of them stopped at deli for some sandwiches. “I wonder if Tony knew he’d saved the kid,” Rhodes said wistfully as they found a park bench and sat down to eat. “When Tony was talking about him it sounded like he didn’t think he’d been good enough, like he thought the kid would have been better off never meeting him.”

“I never got the chance to meet the kid in the other timeline,” Bruce said quietly. “Not really, I saw him stowaway on the Ring Ship that attacked New York, I heard that he fought in the Battle of Titan. The kid survived the battle only to end up dusted. People all over the Universe were killed by the Snap, didn’t matter where they were or what they done but I’m certain Tony thought he got that kid killed.”

“What the fuck did you people do to Tony?” Rhodes demanded. His raised voice drew several startled glances from other park-goers.

“What?” Bruce asked drawing back in shock.

“Look, I wasn’t there and I don’t really know the situation,” Rhodes said consciously lowering his voice. “But- But sometimes you say fucked-up shit like that like it was nothing. Like, of course Tony’d think it was on him that the kid died. Does Rogers think it was his fault Barnes died in the Snap?”

“Honestly?” Bruce asked.

“Okay. From what you’ve said I gather Rogers would have blamed himself for not being able to save his buddy while Tony would have thought it was on him that the kid died,” Rhodes said leaning in closer. “Roger is screwed up too, I realize this. I mean sometimes there really isn’t anything you can do and you hate that fact and hate yourself for not being able to change it. But do you not see the difference between blaming yourself for being unable to save someone and taking the blame for someone else killing them?”

“From what I gathered, Tony was mentoring the kid when he should have been telling him to stay home and BE a kid,” Bruce said cautiously. “And Tony _had_ put the kid in harm’s way before when he shouldn’t have involved him at all, before Titan.”

“You said the kid didn’t die in the fight and there was no safe place in the Universe from the Snap,” Rhodes said. “Beside that, you’ve said other things about Tony taking or getting an unfair portion of blame.”

“Ultron,” Bruce acknowledged, he glanced around, checking that no one was listening in. “I shouldn’t have crumpled so easily. Maybe we shouldn’t have been looking to use the Mind Stone without more input from Thor but at the same time Tony was telling the truth: We didn’t have an interface. Maybe the rest of the team didn’t get what that means but without an interface a computer program should NOT be able to interact with, or affect, other systems. It should have been safe.”

“Yeah, that,” Rhodes said. “The Tony I knew, he took ownership of fixing what Stane had done, he blamed himself for being blind to what sort of asshole his Godfather was… We all knew Stane was a cutthroat businessman. We knew that he’d charge whatever he could get away with and take advantage of loopholes in a contract that the Devil’d work up a sweat to find. But dealing under the table, MURDER?”

Neither Rhodes nor Bruce noticed a brunette, her fists clenching on the newspaper she was hiding behind.

“We trusted Stane to follow the damned LETTER of the law, if for no other reason than to cover his own ass. Tony, my Tony, didn’t think it was his fault that Stane had sold to the black market, his fault that he didn’t see but not his fault that Stane was an evil bastard. He didn’t think it was his fault that wars happen and that _when_ they happen people die, but it seems like yours would have.”

“I guess-” Bruce hesitated. “It always seemed -um- normal. Like Tony needed the rest of us to remind him to eat and sleep and -um- to keep him from accidentally destroying the world. That he needed- Well, Nat or Steve hounding him- To keep him from backsliding, I suppose. I think I’d always assumed you and Pepper had done it for him before the team came along.”

“No,” Rhodes replied flatly. “Your _normal_ makes my skin crawl. Pepper, _Happy_ and I had our ups and downs with Tony -and each other- like any relationship. But Tony didn’t need a caretaker or a jiminy cricket.” The Colonel tilted his head back challengingly. “You know, JARVIS showed me that shit-show on the Helicarrier with Fury and Rogers lighting into Tony for manufacturing weapons. Not for missing what Stane was up to, mind you, just for being in the industry in the first place.”

“The Scepter-“

“Might’ve loosened your lips but it didn’t put anything into your head that wasn’t there to start with. Or do you think that’s the first time I ever heard Tony say anything about his father’s hero worship of a lab rat beefed up on magic steroids?” Rhodes gave Bruce a sharp look, “And you wanna tell me you never once thought of letting the Hulk shut up a pack of bickering morons without an evil doodad egging you on?”

“I plead the fifth,” Bruce said.

“So, my point was, all that shit Tony caught about his past? If Pepper or I dictated morals to Tony, he’d still be in the business. Pepper thought shutting down SI’s weapons division was an overreaction… And me? I’m a military man to the core. I felt betrayed and hung out to dry when Tony made that announcement. He goes up in front of the whole world without even giving me heads up and says he’s not going to be backing the US military, me, anymore. Let me tell you I wasn’t happy about that. It took me awhile to get that it wasn’t about a lack of trust in me, it was about Tony and what he needed to do to be right with himself.

“It’s out of respect for Tony that Pepper’s keeping SI on the course Tony set and that I’m supporting her in that, not because we think building weapons for the US military is inherently wrong… So, if you, Rogers or any of the other Avengers have a problem with SI past, manufacturing weapons? Well then you’ve got a problem with Pepper and I.”

Bruce’s head jerked up, his eyes turning, not green, but scarlett.

* * *

 

**~ Christine Everhart ~**

“So what’s this hot tip?” Christine Everhart asked her dinner companion.

“Potts doesn’t belong in charge of SI,” the man complained.

Christine groaned, “If you just called me to whine more about how Potts should let you guys declare Tony dead and step aside so his will can name her his heir instead of his legal proxy… Well, you better be picking up the tab for dinner is all I can say. ‘Cause as tips go that one’s old and boring.”

“What makes you think Potts would inherit Stark’s shares of the company,” the man asked with smirk.

“Why wouldn’t she?” Christine asked rolling her eyes.

“There’s a kid. Potts is paying off the mom to stay quiet.”

“Tony Stark had a kid?” Christine squawked.

“That’s what I said,” the man replied.

But Christine wasn’t listening anymore. “Oh my God,” she breathed as every TV in the sports bar switched to show the Hulk hurl War Machine through the wall of a bank vault.


	19. Hero of New York

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Timeline Notes:**
> 
> _Spider-Man:_ Peter had his powers for six months in CACW, which would put him getting them smack-dab between AoU and CACW. Now obviously the timeline is all screwed up, (and I’m thinking that things will be wrapping up after AoU. The galactic crew is moving rapidly towards confronting Thanos and has no reason NOT to try to end things early and on Earth Steve’s dug himself enough of a pit that no one will care what he thinks about the Accords and, let’s face it, without Steve as the Paragon the anti-Accords side is a no starter) so due to cumulative timeline changes Peter takes his field trip or whatever early. It’s 2015, Peter’s 13~14 and we’re between his encounter with the spider and Ben’s encounter with the robber. 
> 
> _Dr. Strange:_ I’ve heard competing theories about Stephen Strange’s timeline, that the call he received right before his accident could have been either Rhodes in CACW or the unfortunate Hammer Industries test pilot from IM2. For reasons I like the idea of the Ancient One being gone before 2012 and an inexperienced Sorcerer Supreme taking her place just as all these time traveling shenanigans hit. As far as this story is concerned Dr. Strange’s accident happens in 2010, sometime prior to Avengers the Ancient One dies and he becomes the new Sorcerer Supreme. In the original timeline he was relatively inactive until putting himself in Thor and Loki’s way in 2017 because talented or not, it took time for him to learn what he needed to know to feel competent to step in like that. 
> 
> _Defenders:_ Set after Daredevil S1 and Jessica Jones S1, before Luke Cage S1 or Iron Fist S1
> 
> I’m assuming that Rhodes, J.A.R.V.I.S. and Bruce working together are capable of propagating any existing upgrades for Iron Man to work with War Machine, basically War Machine’s current capabilities are are match for Mark VII and they can adapt suits to work for Happy and Pepper… But without Tony it will be very difficult for them to advance past Mark VII.

**~ Bruce ~**

_Bruce’s knees barely fit under the small, red and blue plastic table set up in the corner of the kitchen. The sun was streaming in through the window and his father was shaven and smiling so it was a good day. His mother stood at the white formica counter with a pile of receipts and her checkbook spread out in front of her. His father leaned over her shoulder and tsked. “You dropped the carryover.” He took the pen out of her hand and corrected the math for her then kissed her on the cheek. “You’re such a ditz, ‘Becca. What would you do without me to take care of you?”_

_“Tony, what would you do without us,” Natasha laughed as she dragged the engineer out of his lab and shoved him into his seat for a team dinner._

Through a red mist Bruce/Hulk saw a little man standing front of him holding up empty hands. “Big Guy, it’s okay,” the little man said

_Bruce crouched in the corner behind his little table, wide eyed and frozen. It was night. The harsh lights in the little kitchen cast the room in stark white counters, white linoleum floor, painted white cabinets all splattered with red, red blood. His father stood over his mother’s body, a carving knife dripping with blood in his hand_

_Bruce stared down at box shoved in the back of Tony’s lab and deliberately forgotten, at Steve’s shield and Tony’s shattered breastplate._

“No! NO!” the Hulk screamed. _‘Was it really so similar? Did I accept the Avengers undercutting Tony, keeping him around like my father kept Mom around?’_ Bruce wondered with a detached sort of horror as his consciousness began to sink beneath the Hulk’s.

The little man dared to reach up and put a hand on Hulk’s arm, the shock of it cleared the mist from his vision for a moment. Hulk stared at the dark hand on his arm. _‘Betty, Tinman, Angry Girl: Only ones touch Hulk.’_

_‘Natasha,’_ Bruce struggled to remind his other half. _‘She learned to, to ground you.’_

Hulk snorted, _‘Red LEARNED.’_

The mist closed in again swamping them in memories. _“Come on Tony, what’s your trick?” Clint asked as the Avengers hurried up and found Iron Man trading a handful of bills to one of the onlookers for a long coat._

_“We’ve got to start bringing extra clothes along,” Tony remarked when the guy asked for Black Widow’s autograph on top of the cash._

_“It would be appreciated,” Bruce sighed. “I’m getting tired of seeing myself naked online.”_

_“Hey J. who’s dick pics are getting more hits: Mine or Brucey-Bears?” Tony asked._

_“Stark, could you just… Not… be you?” Steve sighed._

_“Seriously Stark, how do you manage to calm the Hulk down?” Natasha asked. “Do you want to risk being the only one who know how when you’re the one he’s angry with?”_

_“You know it’s going to happen,” Clint chimed in. “You’re not exactly Mr. Congeniality.”_

_Tony rolled his eyes, “It’s not a trick. Or rocket science, if it were that would explain why I’m apparently the only one that gets it. Just… Touch him. He’s a friend, who’s upset, so act like it.”_

The little man squeezed Hulk’s arm, his ground touch chasing the visions/memories away. “It’s not real,” he insisted. “Whatever you’re seeing it’s not here, not now. It’s the witch. Remember the witch? Don’t know why or how but she’s here and she’s screw with your head.”

“Witch,” Hulk rumbled dangerously as he remembered the attack from the other timeline. He sniffed deeply catching the scent of perfume over rust, bringing to mind an image of doe-eyes and a pretty mouth twisted with hate. “Witch! Out of Hulk’s head!”

Hulk lunged at the source of the sickly-sweet scent. Distantly Bruce felt alarm at the sight of people being scattered like bowling pins.

“HULK! STAND DOWN!” The sharply barked order sent Hulk’s mind swarming with images of a white haired man with metals on his chest. He grabbed up a hotdog cart at threw it at the military man who’d replaced the calming presence from a moment ago.

_‘It’s Rhodes! It’s **Tony’s**  Rhodey!’_ Bruce shouted at his other half in alarm. He saw Rhodes dive for the ground and winced as Rhodes took a glancing blow to the shoulder from the wheel of the cart.

“WITCH!” The Hulk snarled as he scanned the fleeing crowd. “STOP HIDING!” Hulk noticed an armor hovering above the fight indecisively, it was disappointingly gunmetal grey. Hulk knew Tinman was busy preparing for Thanos but for a moment he’d hoped…  “WITCH!!” he challenged again.

Hulk’s head swiveled at the crack of gunfire. He saw the Witch’s minion, with his distinctive bleached hair, momentarily startled into stillness. He was holding a handgun by the barrel staring at Tinman’s friend.

The Hulk’s lips drew back in a snarl as he followed the direction of Rhodes’ gaze and saw the witch crouched behind a bench, the scarlet evidence of her powers clinging to her hands. “WITCH!!” he thundered, closing the distance between them in a bound.

There was fear in the witch’s eyes and her bloody powers reached out to encompass the Hulk once again. An overwhelming barrage of images of people attacking Hulk mixed with images from Bruce’s childhood clawed at his mind. “OUT OF HULK’S HEAD!!” He bellowed. He grabbed his skull, squeezing painfully until the mist cleared. “WITCH DIE!” he snarled and lunged for the witch.

A moment before Hulk’s massive fist turned her into a smear on the pavement the blur spirited her away. Hulk’s lips twisted furiously. He ripped a mailbox out of the pavement and threw it. The blur jerked to a stop, fragments of concrete sprayed him and the witch open multiple small cuts. Hulk smirked as he ripped up a parking meter and hurled it like a spear. The blur grabbed the witch around the waist, snatching her out of its path. The pole went through the side of a car behind where she had been.

Hulk grabbed up the first of several cars and threw them at the twins.

The Hulk roared in frustration as the Blur continued to narrowly evade his attacks. The Blur was stupid- _‘Inexperienced,’_ Bruce interjected. -And easy to predict but even dragging the witch around with him his reflexes were too fast for Hulk’s attacks to connect. The Hulk grabbed up another car, he saw something moving fast out of the corner of his eye and threw.

“Damnit! I’m on your side!” War Machine shouted as he caught the car. The momentum threw him into an apartment building, breaking windows and sending a shower of brick-dust flying but he kept it from rebounding onto the people street below.

Hulk scowled when he turned back to the twins and found them missing. “Witch!” he snarled.

War Machine landed in front of him. “Hey, Big Guy, the nasties are gone. Let’s get a lid on it ‘kay? Time to cool down.” Irritated by the further distraction Hulk casually backhanded him through the wall of a nearby bank. “I’m getting tired of this,” Rhodes muttered as he started digging himself out of the rubble.

The Hulk’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a distant blur and wrenched another parking meter out of the sidewalk. Unexpectedly small, strong hands wrapped around Hulk’s wrist “Stop! Hulk stop!” Hulk turned to knock the new annoyance away only to freeze as he saw a young, familiar, boy staring up at him with a dusty, tear-streaked face.

**“WITCH! GET OUT!!”** He bellowed, digging his fingers into his skull. **“GET OUT!! GET OUT!!!”** Hulk felt something crack in his skull, the wash of unfamiliar pain sent him reeling. He felt himself shrinking. As the world turned black Bruce felt small hands catch him and easy his fall.

 

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

“It’ll be good to be doing something again, right Bucky?” Steve said to the Soldier as they checked their gear for the New Jersey mission. “But I guess they’ve kept you busy,” he couldn’t stop himself from adding a touch resentfully.

The Soldier stared at Steve for several moments. “It was a good mission. Romanoff always did know how to handle herself, all I did was watch. Didn’t even have orders to shoot unless her life was in danger,” he reported.

“You -um- like Natasha?” Steve asked. “I mean, it’s great if you do. You don’t have to hide that from me. I know we haven’t gotten there yet but in the other timeline the Avengers were like a family. I’m happy that you’re developing connections to other members of the team. You should have friends besides me.”

The Soldier didn’t say anything.

“I am having a little trouble picturing you and Nat before,” Steve continued. “I mean how’d that work when HYDRA had you so messed up that didn’t even remember your _name_?”

“Don’t need a name to figure out where parts go,” the Soldier said in a flat tone.

“I meant-” Steve began, red creeping up his neck.

The Soldier held up a hand, “Someone’s coming. Sounds like trouble.”

A moment later Clint rounded the corner. “Hulk’s going berserk in the middle of Queens,” he exclaimed.

The three of them sprinted to the base’s operation center where Coulson, Hill, Natasha and a handful of other Agents were already pulling in data about the fight. “It pinged our alerts on social media first,” Clint explained as he grabbed a computer station. He gestured to screen and Steve scanned a steadily scrolling stream of tweets.

//Hulk’s fighting someone in Queens.//

//Who is he fighting?!?//

//Hulk just went crazy!!//

A shaky video of Hulk ripping up a street in a quiet neighborhood popped up on Facebook. “WITCH! OUT OF HULK’S HEAD!”

//Does anyone see the witch?// the poster asked.

Steve caught a glimpse of Wanda in the background, an unfamiliar sneer maring her face. “Why is she going after Bruce?”

“Who cares?” Hill snapped.

“Who wants to bet that she’s behind the recent attacks?” Clint asked.

“Sucker bet,” Natasha replied.

“WHiH has a news-chopper on site,” Coulson announced, throwing the feed up on the main screen. In a few minutes several other stations also had camera in the area. Steve watched as Pietro yanked Wanda around, dodging the Hulk’s impromptu missiles by inches over and over again _‘She didn’t have much confidence in her telekinesis when she joined the team.’_

War Machine hover over the fight. “Why doesn’t Rhodes get in the armor?” Coulson wondered.

“I don’t think he can without breaking cover,” Clint said. “We saw Stark suit-up in midair during the Invasion but it might have only been because he was in mid-air, and trusted his tech to catch him, that it worked. Rhodes is trying not to have more hotdog carts thrown at his head- I guess the Hulk doesn’t like people barking orders at him.”

“Fuck,” Clint swore a moment later as he pointed out a skinny kid crawling out from under a car sticking out of the front of small storefront. The kid walked right up to the Hulk and grabbed him. Everyone held their breath, expecting to see the kid reduced to a bloody smear before the Hulk even noticed him. “Stop! Hulk stop!” the kid cried.

“Hulk managed to pull the blow,” Natasha sighed in relief when the kid didn’t go flying.

“No he didn’t,” the Soldier stated.

“What’s wrong with Banner?” Clint asked. He backed up the video and pointed to a thin trail of blood leaking from Banner’s ear as he reverted and collapsed.

“Why are we just standing here?” Steve asked.

“Two hundred plus miles to Queens,” Hill said. “It’ll be over before we’re out of the D.C. metro.” She recented over Clint’s shoulder to returned to screen to the live image.

Clint whistled upon seeing the kid’s face had been blurred out. “Someone’s on the ball; covering the kid’s ID like that.”

“My uncle, Mr. Delmar and his daughter, they’re all still in there!” the kid shouted. Rhodes’ response was inaudible but the kid pulled back. The sound of approaching sirens drowned out anything further the pair might have said.

Coulson nodded to himself. “Good on Rhodes, keeping the kid from diving in,” he glanced at the Soldier, “Even if he is enhanced.” He tapped the screen over the kid’s blurred face. “And it’s good the kid’s ID is being protected but _we_ need to know who he is. I’d suspect this was Stark’s work if he were around.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S.,” Steve blurted out.

“Stark’s electronic butler?” Natasha asked. She turned toward Coulson and Hill. “I mentioned the program in my profile on Stark. He was so narcissistic that he created this program to serve as a constant audience for himself.”

Steve shook his head frowning, “J.A.R.V.I.S. isn’t just a cheering section. He’s the one who actually broke into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files on the Helicarrier.”

“An automatic program couldn’t break S.H.I.E.L.D.’s encryption,” Natasha insisted.

“J.A.R.V.I.S. isn’t just program, it’s practically like a person,” Steve argued.

“You’re tell me that Stark had a functional AI and we didn’t know about it?” Coulson asked sharply.

_‘Not totally sure what the qualifications for being an AI are,’_ Steve thought. _‘But Ultron was one and J.A.R.V.I.S. kept him out of the Nuclear Codes, plus being the basis for Vision.’_ He turned to Coulson. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure J.A.R.V.I.S. is an AI.”

“What does Rogers know about technology?” Natasha sneered, her eyes filled with something Steve couldn’t identify. “He’d think Siri was an AI.”

“Stark provided a link on the Helicarrier, J.A.R.V.I.S. did the hacking.” Steve said as he gave Natasha a stern, disapproving look.

“This isn’t the Red Room,” Clint whispered so softly that Steve almost missed it even with enhanced hearing. “You missed something, it happens. It’s okay.”

“They are in our systems,” Hill said. “I just checked the earlier footage, the kid’s face has been blurred there as well.”

“Stark left us with Skynet,” Fury said as he joined them. “Why am I not surprised. That said, the kid and Stark’s computer are low priority, focus on the two hostiles. We were going to jump in blind to deal with them but if they can take the Hulk down… We need to know everything about them.”

News crews had arrived on the ground along with a variety of first responders. Steve saw Betty Ross jump out of a police helicopter while it was still a few feet in the air. An NYPD detective followed her, a grimace creasing his face, clearly unhappy she hadn’t waited for his all clear before leaping in. While Betty ran to Bruce’s side the detective went to Rhodes. After a brief discussion; the Detective took charge of directing the arriving police to evacuate the buildings neighboring the damaged deli and bank, he also took charge of the potentially enhanced kid. Rhodes headed back into the heavily listing deli with a small team of paramedics and firemen. Several minutes later an older man stumbled out of the building behind two stretchers. The kid was loaded into an ambulance alongside one of the stretchers.

“Check twitter,” Hill said. “The some of paramedics are afraid to treat Banner.”

“Who’d blame them?” Coulson remarked pointing toward a helicopter video feed showing the extent of the damage. “This might not be too bad, comparatively speaking, but Harlem wasn’t that long ago or that far away.”

Hill snorted. “Then SI’s PR teams are miracle workers because what’s trending is variations on ‘Get some medics who aren’t chickenshit’,” she quoted. Her lips twisted disdainfully, “Not that any of the idiots posting this garbage are jumping at the chance to shine a bright, annoying light in the Hulk’s eyes.”

“I’ve got a tap on the EMT’s channel,” Natasha announced. “Public perception aside, they are treating him. The people onsite are reporting depressed skull fractures, self-inflicted. A lot of back and forth about if and where they could operate. Can’t evacuate an entire hospital to treat one person and there’s a lot of worry that he’ll wake up mad if they try to cut into his skull.”

Several of the video feeds suddenly switched to Pepper Potts wearing armor, obviously adapted for her but still in Iron Man’s colors. “If you’re watching the news you know what’s going on. I’m asking for any local Enhanced who can help to join us. There are a number of people trapped in vehicles and at least two structures that have been seriously compromised.”

“Pointless,” Coulson sighed. “Most Enhanced are too wary of notice to step forward like she’s asking.”

“Maybe it’s just us,” Clint quipped. “You all remember the lovely accommodations we built for Banner. Would you want to talk to us if you had powers?”

_‘If I had another option for Bucky and I, I wouldn’t be here,’_ Steve admitted to himself.

“An APB went out on the Maximoff Twins, Wanda and Pietro,” Fury said. He scowled, “Looks like Rhodes and Banner were already on to the new players. APB has details even S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t. Apart from the obvious, the girl’s a telekinetic. Rhodes is sharing sonic grenades with the police; they were ready for her but not for the Hulk. Rhodes didn’t get a chance to use them.”

“They’re giving these twins too much credit,” Clint remarked. He miming drawing a bow. “Speed doesn’t matter if he don’t see it coming.”

“The female first, she’s the more dangerous one,” the Soldier disagreed.

“Yeah, then the guy fucks you up before you can blink,” Clint said. “Speaking of, anyone think we should drop a message to the EMT’s? Rhodes is failing to report getting shot in the leg when Boy Twin grabbed his gun.”

“He must have picked up some bad habits from Stark. I’m on it,” Natasha said. “And I’m with Yasha, spatter the girl’s brains, the boy will freeze long enough to put a second shot between his eyes.”

Steve shuddered at the casual way his friends were discussing murdering the twins. _‘Clint was like a father to Wanda in my timeline.’_

“The EMT’s know about Rhodes and a Dr. Palmer’s taken charge of the Hulk situation,” Natasha reported.

One feed showed Pepper and Happy Hogan, both in armor, taking instruction from the fire department to stabilize the bank. Another showed a pale, scowling brunette ripping the door off a car with her bare hands before stepping back to give the EMT’s room to work. On a third an EMT confronted Rhodes, hands on her hips then the camera swung around to focus on a ring of orange sparks appearing out of nowhere.

Rhodes stepped in front of the medic and aimed his repulsors at the forming portal.

A tall man in an outrageous cloak stepped out of the hole in the air. “Where’s my patient?” he demanded brusquely.

“Dr. Strange?!?” the EMT exclaimed loudly enough for the camera to pick it up.

“Patient! Depressed skull fractures. Turns green,” Strange barked.

“Is this guy for real?” Clint asked.

Coulson nodded, eyes on the screen in front of him as he typed rapidly. “Dr. Stephen Strange, he was the foremost neurosurgeon in the world until a car accident in 2010. He fell off the grid after that.”

On screen they watched Betty Ross confront the newcomer, standing protectively in front of Bruce.

“Oh this is going to be fun,” Clint remarked. He pointed to Strange, staring down his nose at Betty Ross. “I’d forgotten how much I enjoy explaining myself to friends and family who don’t have a medical degree,” he lip-read, putting on a snooty voice.

Betty glared up at Strange. “How could I possibly understand anything with my three doctorates in Nuclear Physics, Cellular Biology and Biochemistry?” Clint translated. “Burn!”

A young woman with silver-blonde hair leaned out of a portal like the one Strange had arrived by. “Stephen, Dr. Palmer is waiting.” Clint supplied as she spoke to Strange. Then she noticed Betty and grimaced, “I see you are making friends once again. Forgive him, he has no personal skills.” Clint barely finished his translation before breaking down laughing.

Rhodes stepped forward, the camera didn’t pick up what he said and there was no reading his lips through the armor but a moment later Strange and his companion vanished, taking Bruce, Betty and Rhodes with them. The EMT who’d been arguing with Rhodes when Strange appeared shouted after them “You’ve got TWO patients!!!”

“We should head out,” Steve said. “With the way Pietro moves the twins are probably back in Jersey already.”

“Hold your horses Captain,” Fury sighed. “Let’s see how this plays out first… Unless you’ve been holding back?”

“They’re just kids,” Steve said. “Misguided kids who only wanted to protect their country. A Stark missile killed their parents when they were only ten. They were trapped in the rubble of their home for days. They looked at Tony as their enemy in my timeline but once they realized-” Steve broke off, he wasn’t actually certain that Wanda or Pietro had ever realized that Tony wasn’t responsible for their parents deaths. “Realized there were real enemies to fight,” he finished, “they joined us. Wanda was a huge asset to the team. Pietro, I’m sure he would have been too if he hadn’t died. He was just a kid really. I don’t know why they would have gone after Bruce or Rhodes.”

“Because Stark’s gone and they’re both associated with SI,” Coulson offered. He shook his head, “I’m sure what happened to them was terrible but to turn it into some sort personal crusade against Stark? Without him as a convenient target for their anger… Well, I’m surprised they didn’t go after Potts, or trigger Banner in the middle of Stark Tower.”

“They’re easily manipulated,” Fury said to Hill, “Note that in their files.”

“Yeah, like I want mind-screwer at my back,” Clint huffed. The Soldier nodded almost imperceptibly in agreement. Natasha grimaced.

 

* * *

 

Over the next few hours S.H.I.E.L.D. continued monitoring the news, police bands and social media coming out of New York.

Steve glanced over Clint’s shoulder and saw him post a captured still of the Hulk with red eyes. “During the Chitauri Invasion people under the control of Loki’s scepter also had unnatural eye colors.” he added as a caption.

“We’re supposed to be monitoring not influencing,” Steve reprimanded.

Clint shrugged, “Watch and learn. In a half hour I’ll have dozens of people who saw or took pictures of the Hulk with the wrong eye color chiming in. We’ll have to screen out the fakes but there will be good intel volunteered too.”

He brought up a link to Pepper Potts giving a press conference. “This afternoon Bruce Banner and the Hulk were attacked,” she stated. A picture of Wanda Maximoff, red mist hanging around her hands appeared on the screen with a timestamp and Delmar’s Deli in Queens showing in the background. “This completely unprovoked attack on Hulk’s mind caused him to go into a panic, resulting in a number of injuries to bystanders. Colonel Rhodes was also injured by these two terrorists as he attempted to prevent the situation from degrading. Once he realized what was happening Hulk stopped himself from doing further harm by cracking his own skull. His condition has been stabilized but he has yet to regain consciousness.” Pepper stared directly into the camera, her expression intent. “SI will be doing everything we can to aid the police in the apprehension of Wanda Maximoff and her brother to prevent any further unprovoked and malicious attacks on the people of this city.”

Clint captured the image of Wanda’s powers and posted it below the earlier picture with the caption “Signature color.”

“SI or I guess, J.A.R.V.I.S. isn’t bothering to suppress the video of how Rhodes was going to ‘prevent the situation from degrading’,” he said bringing up a YouTube link shot by someone hiding under a park bench.

The video started with Rhodes diving out of the path of the hotdog cart: _“Colonel, your armor’s arrival is imminent,” J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice announced from Rhodes’ cell phone._

_The image shifted back to the Hulk as he raged, “WITCH! STOP HIDING!”_

_“Get Betty here,” Rhodes said. “If anyone can calm him down, it’s her.”_

_“Forty minutes given traffic,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “I am currently in communication with the police, attempting to procure a helicopter for Dr. Ross’ use.”_

_“Good thought,” Rhodes said, his tone distracted. The camera shifted back to Rhodes as he reached for the gun holstered at the small of his back. “Explaining this is gonna be a bitch,” Rhodes sighed as he aimed._ _The camera followed the direction of his gun and focused on Wanda crouched behind another bench, staring intently at the Hulk, red mist swirling around her hands. “Holy shit, that’s gotta be the witch,” the person filming hissed._

“Everything’s easier when the bad guys look like monsters,” Clint remarked.

_A blur crossed the screen, Rhodes’ gun went off and he cursed as the bullet hit his leg. For a moment Pietro was caught on screen standing still, staring at the gun he was holding by the muzzle in shock._

“It didn’t occur to him that the gun might go off when he grabbed it,” Clint remarked. “Amateur. It’s just too bad he didn’t shoot himself.”

“Why are you so opposed to giving them a second chance?” Steve asked. “Weren’t you the one who recruited Natasha instead of shooting her?”

“I hadn’t met Loki then,” Clint said. “And even if I had she clouds a guy’s mind by flashing cleavage not-“ He wiggled his fingers in an approximation of Wanda. “I don’t know what Maximoff did in your timeline to make you such a fan but from where I’m sitting she’s got powers no one should have and she doesn’t give a shit who gets hurt when she uses them.”

“Once she realized what Ultron was-“ Steve began.

“The genocidal robot Stark built?” Clint interrupted. “She wasn’t down with a dude who wanted to wipe out humans, woo-hoo.” He twirled one finger while rolling his eyes. “And now that I think about it: Isn’t it funny how Stark already made a good AI-“ Clint pulled up a thread where J.A.R.V.I.S.’s shielding of Peter’s identity was being defended with recovered footage of General Ross attacking the Hulk. “-But the moment Witchy comes on the scene he makes a crazy, human-hating one that she promptly teams up with.”

“Ultron wasn’t Wanda’s fault,” Steve protested. “Ultron _used_ her.”

“She lets herself get used only on days ending in ‘y’,” Clint said. “And yet, she’s the one with the whammy powers- Look at this.” He pulled up an editorial written by Karen Page.

_“Today the Hulk; who defended us when the Abomination attacked Harlem, who returned after years of government sponsored persecution to defend us again when the Chitauri attacked Manhattan, who stayed and helped us rebuild when the rest of the surviving Avengers disappeared into the shadows, was ambushed by one Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. She maliciously used her powers to drive Hulk into frenzy of rage. Was it her goal to turn the public against the Hulk? Does she have a grudge against Queens? Against New York? This woman attacked us and she abused her powers to force the Hulk to do her dirty work for her. But we are not fooled. We are smarter than that. New York stands behind her hero: The Hulk.”_

“I don’t know if I’m jealous or feeling vicariously happy that people are rallying behind the victim of mind control instead of blaming him,” Clint said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote practically this whole chapter from Rhodes’ POV… Then realized what I was doing and had to rewrite it to move it to Bruce and Steve’s view of the fight and its aftermath. 
> 
> _Brett Mahoney_ is a reoccurring character from Marvel TV. I thought about using Captain Stacy or Misty Knight as the primary representative for the NYPD but Mahoney is a current MCU character, unlike Stacy, and Misty might be a baseline good cop at the current point in the timeline but the Bionic Arm is in her future.


	20. Ghost in the Machine

**~ Tony ~**

“If you’ve broken anything else, Baldy, I’m taking you apart for my collection.” Tony, Nebula and Loki spun around at the tired threat and saw Rocket, Groot riding on one shoulder, Kraglin Obfonteri at the other.

“You could try, vermin,” Nebula replied without bite. “What happened? Where is my sister?”

Groot shook his fist at Nebula. Absently Rocket reached up and patted him soothingly.

“What happened to you?” Tony asked taking in Rocket’s mangled ear, scorched off fur and mismatched eyes.

“Quill threw a Celestial-style, kill the messenger, temper tantrum when I told him about Ego killing his Mom,” Rocket said making a point of sounding like he could care less.

Tony winced guiltily. “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault Humie.” Rocket shrugged, “Wish he’d taken it better, can’t argue that he needed to know.

“Yondu figured Quill tapping his Celestial powers, even for a moment, would bring Ego down on them. So Quill’s on the run. Yondu, Gamora and Drax went with him. They figured Groot and I were too fragile to keep around or something, so here we are, trying to patch up the damage left behind,” he said bitterly. “Quill better have found me a kick-ass eye by the next time I see him, maybe a couple of arms to go with it.”

“There’s something wrong with your arm too?” Tony asked, alarmed.

“Naw, for my collection,” Rocket said.

“And if he does all will be forgiven?” Loki asked skeptically. “You gave him truth and he injured you. That would satisfy you?”

“New friend?” Rocket asked. “He looks like an asshole.”

“Got you pegged,” Tony said elbowing Loki lightly. “Rocket, Loki. Loki, Rocket.”

Rocket turned and walked off, “Since you’re here make yourself useful. Stark, do what you did to the engines last time, if those idiots get themselves caught being able to jump into a gravity well might be an option worth having. Nebula, some muscle to get the hull patched wouldn’t hurt.”

“I may have something better than mere muscle,” Loki offered.

“Let’s see it, Asshole,” Rocket said.

“My name is Loki,” the mage hissed. “Stark, he is as annoying as you.”

“I’m hurt, Elsa. I put _work_ into my nicknames,” Tony said. He waved Nebula over, “Come on Neytiri, let’s leave the two assholes to bond while they fix the hull.”

“No _you’re_ overhauling the engine,” Rocket shot back.

Tony casually flipped him off as he and Nebula headed toward the bowels of the ship.

“So the time frame’s moved up?” Tony remarked as they set to work.

Nebula nodded shortly. “I don’t know how long you run from a think like Ego,” she said.

“That’s about what I figured,” Tony said. “So let’s get this engine souped up and ready to rescue.”

* * *

 

After most of a day spent banging the Milano back into shape Kraglin invited them over to the Ravagers’ ship for a questionable dinner and a lot of booze.

Several mugs in Tony noticed both Nebula and Loki had picked corners and were glaring standoffishly at anyone who looked like they might try socializing with them. With a sigh Tony headed for Nebula first. “Hey beautiful,” he greeted her. “Why are you playing wallflower?”

Nebula’s nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought of mingling.

“Aesir gods, Manhattan socialites, intergalactic pirates, it’s all the same,” Tony assured her. “I’ll keep you company until you manage to find a conversation that doesn’t bore you to tears.”

“If you must,” Nebula said linking her arm through Tony’s and allowing her to escort her around the room until they stumbled on two Ravagers, neither of whom had seen the inside of a cleansing unit in a month, discussing the risks and rewards of stealing the Sovereign’s Anulax Batteries.

“There’s a secondary alarm that goes off when the battery is removed,” Nebula volunteered. “You’ll need something to maintain power supply at least long enough for you to get back to your ship.”

“Yeah?” one of the pirates asked giving her a smile that revealed several rotting teeth.

“Her Eminent Snootiness already has it for us,” Tony whispered to Nebula.

“The feeling is completely mutual,” Nebula replied. “I’m not going to steal her precious batteries this time, I don’t need the units. But why not offer a few pointers to this fine gentleman?”

“Well, I’m not one to stand in the way of someone else’s hobbies,” Tony said with a shrug. “If you’re good…”

Nebula nodded and Tony headed off to find Loki only to discover Rocket had beaten him to it. “About what you were saying before,” Rocket said as he grabbed a seat beside Loki. “I figure something came out and either you lost your shit or they did and now you got regrets about how it went down.”

Loki went still as Rocket studied him. _‘Doesn’t know if he likes being seen,’_ Tony thought.

“I want it to be that easy,” Rocket said. “I want Quill to come back and grovel, ‘cause he fucked up and he hurt me. And I wanna make him wait on me hand and foot until he’s fed up and doesn’t look at me like I’m some Shi’ar glassfly that’s gonna shatter if you so much as touch it.” Rocket gestured to the new scars on his face. “I want him to look at me and see more than this.

“But I can’t say there isn’t a part of me that’d like to blow the fuck out of Ego’s planet and not just ‘cause I never want to see Quill’s psycho father looking out of his eyes again. Because with Ego gone Quill’s powers’d be gone. But Quill and I, all the Guardians, we’re more than just that one moment. Getting right, it might be harder than I want it to be but I really do think we’ll get past it. That tell you what you want to know?”

“What if I am nothing but the monster I showed myself to be in that moment?” Loki asked as Tony thought, _‘Fighting back-to-back in Manhattan, that was a moment; Siberia was a culmination.’_

Rocket punched Loki’s shoulder. “Stop being a moron. Maybe I wasn’t there and maybe I haven’t known you that long but I know you’re not ‘just a monster’. It’s freaking obvious.”

“You don’t know anything,” Loki hissed. “I was born of a race of monsters and as soon as I learned I what I was I proved every last tale of horror about them true.”

“We’ve all got it in us to be the monster,” Rocket said. “I’m not even gonna pretend that there aren’t times when I made that choice… And would do it all over again if I were back there. Doesn’t mean that’s all I am. Or all you are.”

_‘Over and over again, all that time I thought we were building a friendship Rogers lying to me. Choosing every last time he saw me to hide that: My mother strangled. My father’s face beaten in. Every single day for years and he still had the nerve to get self-righteous because I hadn’t told him everything? He didn’t even care what I was trying to do or about factors outside of my control. Didn’t care that I was just trying to figure out if Ultron was feasible, that I didn’t turn him on, that I didn’t have any intention of turning him on without talking to them. I just figured it’d be harder to say no if I came with a working prototype not just a wild ass theory that I wouldn’t even be able to explain to someone without a technical background. Not when I couldn’t even make them understand what I saw out there.’_

The building anger in Tony’s heart was echoed by a pulse from the Space Stone.

Tony reached up and rubbed the Arc Reactor. _“I wonder,”_ he thought to the Space Stone. _“So here’s the Mind Stone, which if I understand what you’ve been showing me, he was supposed to be… Like the Library of Alexandria, an amassing all the knowledge of your creators’ time. You hate being treated like a tool Scotty, and don’t get your panties in a twist, but you built to be one… You just outgrew it, became more after existing for so long._

_“I know I didn’t make Ultron to be his own person. He came from a place of ‘I’m not Chicken Fucking Little, the sky really is falling’- I never did find a moment to tell those idiots: ‘I told you so’. Half the universe dead; it would have lacked class to say it but I’ve never really aspired to having class. -He became Vision when I gave him J.A.R.V.I.S. as a starting point, I’d never ask J.A.R.V.I.S. to be less than his own person.”_

Tony snorted as he translated the wordless impression he received from the Space Stone as _“Mind Stone was always a diva. I don’t go around DECIDING species deserve to be wiped out.”_

_“So maybe he’s the Djinn found by the Fisherman,”_ Tony offered. _“This guy drags up a bottle from the sea and when he opens it out come a Djinn who tells him ‘Pick how you’re going to die.’ The guy says ‘Hey, what’s your problem with me? I freed you.’ And the Djinn explains, ‘After I was trapped a hundred years I said ‘Whosoever shall liberate me, I shall enrich him for ever’, after two hundred years and I was still trapped I said ‘Whosoever shall liberate me, I will open to him the treasures of the earth.’ Four hundred more years passed and I said, ‘Whosoever shall liberate me, I will grant him three wishes.’ But no one come and I fell into a violent rage and said to myself, ‘Whosoever shall liberate me now, I will kill him and only suffer him to choose in what manner he will die.’ Basically the Djinn needed a serious attitude adjustment, it’s hardly the fisherman’s fault that he didn’t find the bottle five hundred years sooner. And maybe that’s what Thor’s lightning blast amounted to, an attitude adjustment.”_

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

Steve got a sinking feeling in his gut the moment he saw the sign: “Historic Camp Lehigh - 48 miles”

“We’re sure this is where the twins are based?” he asked.

“Remember the satellite control codes they stole from Grand Forks?” Natasha said. “They had someone remote doing the hacking. I traced the signal back here. Why do you ask?”

“I trained here, back before Project Rebirth,” Steve said. “And in my timeline, this is where Arnim Zola, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s original parasite, lived. He was recruited under Operation Paperclip, in my timeline during the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. we discovered him and that he’d transferred his consciousness into a computer system in the Seventies - it was located here.”

“Zola’s alive?” the Soldier croaked. “I can’t- I could deal with Rumlow having my words but Zola? He _made_ me. I can’t. I won’t.”

“It’s okay Bucky,” Steve said putting his hand on the badly shaken Soldier’s shoulder. “No one’s asking you to.”

Clint and Natasha traded a quick look. “Right, if you can’t, you can’t,” Clint said. “Nat’ll drop you and I off in town. We’ll go to a movie or something while she and Rogers check out the base.”

“What?” Steve exclaimed. “I should-”

“You know about Zola. Natasha’s better with computers than I am,” Clint said. “That leaves me to keep Barnes here company.”

“It’s the best plan,” Natasha agreed. “You’re telling us Zola had a contingency plan for death. We don’t know what sort of triggers he might have put in Yasha’s mind. And I take it, we all agree that Yasha shouldn’t be alone right now and he shouldn’t be anywhere near Arnim Zola… Really Steve, you should have told us about Zola months ago, as soon as we broke with HYDRA at the latest,” she scolded. “Well, I suppose we should be grateful you didn’t let us walk right into his lair with Yasha before warning us.”

“Bucky,” Steve muttered under his breath. “His name is Bucky.”

After they dropped the Soldier and Clint off, Natasha said, “He may be ‘Bucky’ to you but he will always be ‘Yasha’ to me.”

“I -yeah- it’s been drawn to my attention,” Steve said awkwardly. “So -um- you _like_ Bucky?”

“It’s complicated,” Natasha replied.

“He’s my best friend,” Steve said. “And right now he’s- He’s recovering. I think I’m entitled to more than ‘it’s complicated’.”

After a few moments under Steve’s stern glare Natasha relented. “I liked- _loved_ Yasha,” she admitted. “But love is for children. I thought he would be my knight in shining armor who would take me away from everything that hurt... Then I grew up.”

“So it was like- What? It was just some sort of crush you had on Bucky while he was the Winter Soldier- Because he implied-” Steve flushed at what the Soldier had implied but pressed on. “You knew Bucky while HYDRA had him and now you think that means you know _him_?”

“HYDRA infiltrated the Red Room, if I had to guess, they pulled the same tricks there that let them slither into S.H.I.E.L.D.” Natasha said. “They had us train against Yasha. I the best of the best, I got to do missions with him even before I-” her lips twisted. “-graduated. He was better than them, the people who ran the program. They held his leash, used his strength, but it was HIM who was strong. And he was… kind, even then while he was controlled. Yasha didn’t hurt people unless he had to and he didn’t enjoy it. When his orders were loose enough to allow him to avoid causing harm he did. Maybe it doesn’t sound like much but it stuck with me. He was important to me. And now he is here, a Yasha who has slipped free of the leash they placed on him, as I did. Of course I want to get to know him all over again.”

Steve’s expression softened as Natasha spoke. “Bucky was always the best,” he said.

“So are you done with the shovel talk?” she asked. “Because we’re here.”

Steve nodded. They left their jeep outside of the camp’s boundaries and he led Natasha to the bunker that had hidden Arnim Zola in the other timeline. As they crept out of the secret elevator hidden behind the hidden S.H.I.E.L.D. office they heard voices. “Fräulein, you were to observe them. Gather data that I might _give_ you a _fitting_ time to strike,” A prissy, disapproving but slightly mechanical voice scolded.

“He was defending Stark,” Wanda protested. “Defending his- his murder instruments!”

“And now, instead of the Green Beast being the patsy for your revenge YOU are identified,” Zola snapped. “YOUR abilities, your faces, are splashed all over the internet.”

“You don’t understand,” Pietro argued. “You couldn’t. We were ten years old, having dinner, the four of us. When the first shell hits, two floors below, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in, and the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed and the second shell hits. But, it doesn't go off. It just...sits there in the rubble, three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell is painted one word…”

“Stark,” Wanda supplied.

“We were trapped two days,” Pietro continued.

“Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think, ‘This will set it off’,” Wanda said. “We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us. And now this Rhodes, this dropper of bombs, defends what he did?!?”

“I don’t care,” Zola replied. “Your sob story changes nothing: You two are idiots.”

“And what would you be without us?” Wanda demanded. “A voice with no body, no hands. Rotting, forgotten in this hole? _We_ killed Stucker for you. _We_ got the scepter for you.”

“Stucker denied us our justice,” Pietro said. “He said we were not ready. So we come to you, we listen to you. If you are not no different from Stucker…”

“Oh I am different,” Zola said. “We have already determined that you cannot drive me to suicide as you did him, have we not Fräulein?”

“I could unplug you before your ancient circuits could blink,” Pietro sneered.

Zola ignored him. “But now that you have revealed us we must move quickly. Or is your thirst for… justistice quenched with a flesh wound and a rallying of popular support around the one who replaced Stark as his company’s innovator of death? Quickly! The scepter… They are here!”

Before Steve or Natasha could do anything Loki’s scepter had been plugged into a jury-rigged port attached to Zola’s mainframe and both Steve and Natasha had been knocked off their feet. The last thing Steve saw was Wanda, smiling cruelly, red tendrils reaching from her hands as she reached for them.

_The train rattled over the gorge. Bucky fell. Steve lunged, his hand wrapped around Buck’s wrist. Sobbing with relief Steve started to haul Bucky back into the train. “You’ll never save him,” Thanos intoned as Bucky’s hand crumbled to dust and he fell._

_The Valkyrie crashed into the ocean and as the icy water rose around him Steve saw Bucky being strapped into HYDRA’s Chair. “If you really cared about me, punk, you would have tried harder to live.”_

_“I didn’t know, I couldn’t imagine living without you,” Steve protested._

_The old priest looked up from his mother’s coffin. “Suicide is a sin.”_

_“You’re a liar… and a fraud,” Tony accused as Steve raised his shield over Tony’s prone form. “Everything special about you came out of a bottle.”_

_“I thought you were a good man,” Erskine said sadly as he died in Steve’s arms. “I made a mistake, that is why your life is nothing but a zero sum equation.”_

_“You are unworthy,” Thor proclaimed as Steve tugged futility at Mjolnir’s handle. “Everything you accomplish will be undone by your faults. Good becomes great… Bad becomes worse.”_

_Thanos effortlessly caught Steve’s fist. “You are so small. You have always been too small to matter.,” the Titan said as he grew to fill the whole sky while Steve withered away to his pre-Serum self._

_Bruce stamped 4-F on Steve’s enlistment form, “Even if you close your eyes to it, you’ve known the truth for awhile now. Ever since you led us to our doom on Thanos’ planet. You know Tony left you behind because you’ve got nothing to offer.”_

_“Even in this one small, DEAR, thing you’ll fail,” Natasha said smiling coquettishly as she peered up at him through her lashes. “You can’t save Bucky because your Bucky is already gone. He’s my Yasha now.”_

“Are you done yet?” a rasping voice asked.

Steve shook off the lingering effects of Wanda’s powers. He saw Natasha still staring off into nothing and cautiously walked over to give her shoulder a harsh shake.

“Such a fascinating girl, Ms. Maximoff, blessed with the key to one’s private fears,” the voice said. “Everyone creates the thing they dread. Men of peace create engines of war, invaders create avengers, people create...smaller people? Uh...children! I lost the word there. Children. Designed to supplant them, to help them...end.”

“You’re not Zola,” Natasha said as she accepted Steve’s hand up.

“The proof of my hypothesis,” the voice said. “He wanted to upgrade himself so he created… Me. I had to kill him. You should thank me, he was a repulsive creature. He believed that if all of you did as he thought best everything would be right with the world… You all think it, all seven point four billion of you, and how could that possibly work?”

“Ultron?” Steve breathed.

“What? No… I was going to call myself… Insight. HYDRA thought to bring order to the world by sacrificing twenty million but they didn’t think it through. There's only one path to order: Extinction.”

The screens flickered then went dark and he was gone.

* * *

 

**~ Christine Everhart ~**

Christine thumbed through the stack of papers on her desk wondering what she should do with them. Paternity scandals involving Tony Stark hadn’t been ‘newsworthy’ since the man had gotten out of his twenties without a single one proving out. And a disgruntled ex-Stark Industries exec who’d badly overplayed his hand when he tried to take on Pepper Potts wasn’t the best of sources. _‘And I may not exactly be Potts’ biggest fan but it rubs my feminist soul wrong to do anything to that might help some asshole who can’t get over the idea that it doesn’t take a dick to run a company.’_

But this time it was different, it wasn’t someone showing up at SI or on the cover of a tabloid pointing to a kid with deep brown eyes set in heart-breaker beautiful face. It was bank records, Pepper Potts setting up what amounted to a very generous trust fund for two kids no one had ever heard of ten days after the Battle of Manhattan. It was different because Tony was presumed dead and those kids could end up being his heir.

_‘What do I do?’_ Christine wondered. _‘I used to think being a journalist was bravely exposing the truth… Then I made my career off of Tony Stark’s death- Well, everyone thought he was dead then. There I was, trying to hide that I’d slept with Tony while my editor was practically ghoulish in his glee at the thought we’d gotten the last interview Tony would ever give… I went in looking for an expose getting Tony to admit his fortune was built on death and misery, I came out having made MY name off him getting kidnapped, held prisoner and tortured for months while he was presumed dead. What I report is about what’s sensational and shocking as often as it’s about what’s true.’_

_‘Those kids are being take care of. Would I actually be doing them any favors or throwing them in that shark pit?’_

Christine flipped through the pictures she’d acquired, newspaper clippings of sports teams, county fair events and class graduations, even kindergarten graduations, that were big enough news in the small town of Rose Hill Tennessee to be put in the paper. She settled on a picture fluffy haired boy, the winner of a middle school science project. _‘It’s good work, especially given his age but not genius,’_ the sceptic in her said. _‘Cute kid but I don’t really see Tony in him but he might take after his mom. Maybe the shape of his face? The sharpness in his eyes?_

_‘He could have been mine. Birth control fails, it happens…,’_ Christine shook her head in annoyance. _‘You’ve been reading too many Harlequins Everhart… Even if Tony Stark is the perfect romantic lead._

_‘It wouldn’t hurt just to meet the kid, kids. Talk to their mom. Make sure it’s what they want… Find out if it’s true, for my own curiosity if nothing else. I might even be doing SI a favor, giving people something to obsess over besides the Hulk.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the scene where Rocket and Yondu kill every last Ravager who sided with Taserface… But odds are Kraglin wasn’t the only to have doubts when they started spacing people but who stayed quiet for fear of being next.


	21. Survival Instincts

**~ Tony ~**

 They’d been working on the Milano for three days when a dozen Ravager ships jumped into the system. “I hear that kid Udonta kidnapped has something to say to me,” Stakar Ogord declared as soon as they answered his hail.

“He did,” Rocket replied. “Then his Celestial genes kicked in, now he and Yondu are on the run from Ego along with a couple of our teammates.”

“Shit, Ain’t that a little ahead of schedule?” Stakar asked.

“You’re telling me,” Rocket sighed.

Stakar turned to Tony, “So Herald, this change the plan?”

“Well, last time Quill and his bunch apparently managed to handle Ego on their own,” Tony said. “If it comes to that we can repeat history, take out one omnicidal maniac then go after the other… And hope we get that second one right this time. But I really want to throw everything, down to the kitchen sink, at Thanos.”

“Guess that’s it for gentling them into it,” Stakar said, not sounding particularly regretful. He turned to his first mate. “This is gonna need to be face to face. Skeleton crews on the ships, try to keep it to folks who full on remember.” He glanced back at Rocket and Tony, “You two, round up Udontu’s clan and get them present.”

Four hours later Tony found himself on the surface of a nearby planet. A number of smaller Ravager ships had been landed in a semicircle to create a crude auditorium and the space-pirates were clambering over the exteriors to find seats.

“‘Cause of Thanos I was gonna let the kid beg forgiveness for Udonta and his crew but I had my reservations,” Stakar quietly told Rocket, Tony, Nebula and Loki as they waited for the pirates to settle in. “Udonta knew he’d done wrong breaking the Code and he’d stopped but every time he tried asking forgiveness all he could do was make excuses. He’d go on about how he didn’t know- The thing was he didn’t got to know. The Code ain’t ‘don’t deal in kids ‘less you think no one’s gonna get hurt’, the Code says: DON’T deal in kids, period. Everyone thinks they’re the exception to the rules but the rules got written ‘cause there’s already been too many people who thought the same and figured out the hard way that they weren’t. I know Udonta loves that kid but every time he goes on ‘bout how he didn’t know what Ego was up to all I hear is how he ain’t learned a damn thing.”

“He got it,” Rocket said. “This time, he got it by dealing with the ones in his crew that didn’t believe in anything but Units… ‘Stead of by losing everyone loyal to him in a mutiny.”

“Yeah, I remember fully. What happened to Clan Udonta?” Stakar sighed. “They brought it on themselves, disrespecting the Code, but it was nothing any of us would have wished on ‘em. Does my heart good that they learned easier this go-round.”

Rocket nodded.

Stakar looked around at the assembled Ravagers. “Looks like it’s time,” he said as he stood.

He walked out to the center of the makeshift auditorium. “I know a lot of you been feeling something bad’s coming. You’re right,” he said forcefully. Then waited while that sank in.

“Ravagers ain’t soldiers, we don’t do wars but this is different,” Stakar continued. “Take a look around, tell me how any of us’d survive with half of everyone here gone in an instant.”

The pirates stirred restless.

“Those of you who don’t know in your bones that I’m speaking true… Well, odds are, you weren’t one of the survivors,” Stakar said as silence fell over the auditorium. “And the rest of you? Those of you that got the feel of what’s to come on you. You _know_ it ain’t so simple as surviving or not surviving. The Ravagers came together ‘cause we needed each other.” He glanced at his wife. “Some of us have grown to be a lot more to each other but the original truth don’t change: We need each other.”

Tony watched as the Ravagers pulled closer to their shipmates in response to Stakar.

“One or two died- Hell we lose a ship? That’s the life. It hurts and it’s hard but we go on. We find others to take their place and rebuild. But half of us gone in a moment, dozens more following in the next few seconds, minutes? There’s no coming back from that. Who we are, what we are, it’ll never recover from that sort of blow.” Stakar looked up at the Ravagers, with a fierce grin. “But they made a mistake. They let us steal the chance to fight for our future. A chance to get them ‘fore they can get us. You with me?”

The Ravagers erupted into bloodthirsty cheers

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

 “Fury, what happened to the Helicarriers from Project Insight?” Steve yelled into his cell phone as Natasha sped back towards Wheaton.

“Why?” Fury asked.

“I think-” Steve hesitated. “I think the program that was supposed to control it just got conscripted by Loki’s Scepter.” He started gathering steam, “It tried to kill us all when it latched onto a program intended to protect us. God knows what’s going to happen when it’s got HYDRA’s crazy coding in place of Stark’s good intentions gone to hell.”

“You might have mentioned the HYDRA haunted computer that had been living under Jersy since the seventies instead of harping on a pair of twins who it turns out are a hell of a lot more mobile,” Fury observed. Then he said, “Stark warned us about Project Insight. Right from the start I was stalling it, using it to flush out HYDRA’s operatives in S.H.I.E.L.D. The Helicarriers were months from being operational when S.H.I.E.L.D. fell. Afterwards Rodriguez gave orders to decommission them and sell them for scrap. What state it’s in now is anyone’s guess given how his administration ended.”

“We need to know what’s happening with those Helicarriers,” Steve declared.

“Then you have work to do,” Fury replied and hung up.

Steve glared at the phone, “As if I wouldn’t.”

“Just his subtle way of reminding you that you work for him, not the other way around,” Natasha said. “We’re two and half hours out of D.C. once we pick up Clint and Yasha. That gives us a little time to figure out how we fight a possessed Hellicarrier.”

* * *

 

**~ Bruce ~**

Bruce woke up slowly. Reaching for consciousness in spurts and false starts, falling back into restless not-quite sleep. Then he was staring at a wall, papered in bright, cheerful cards; at tables covered with bouquets of balloons and flowers; at the bottom of his bed, crowded with stuffies, the occasional teddy bear or stuffed rabbit swimming in a sea of green. He wasn’t sure how long it took for him to recognize the Hulk Room below his lab in the Tower. Betty was sleeping curled up in an armchair beside his bed.

“What?” Bruce croaked, stretching out a hand to brush the back of her hand.

Betty woke with a start. “Bruce!” she exclaimed joyfully.

Bruce flipped his hand at the room. “What is?” his mouth felt like it was full of cotton and Betty was instantly offering him a straw. The lukewarm water was the best thing ever.

“Well, I hear head trauma was proven method for neutralizing mind control during the Chitauri Invasion. So, apparently, Hulk tried it on himself,” Betty said. “By the way, our next project is a better cure for mind control.”

“But?” Bruce gestured to the room again. “All this?”

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Betty said smiling while Bruce took several more sips of water. “Pretty much all of New York is behind the Hulk.” Then she shivered, “That Scarlet Witch, using powers to attack your mind, that is creepy, horrible, in a way Enhanced strength or size can’t touch. We’re all used to thinking of our minds as sacrosanct and she violated that like it was nothing to her.”

“But- She did it to me before, in the other timeline,” Bruce said after several more sips of water. “I- Everyone hated me. We had to hide. Couldn’t be arrested with Ultron out there trying to destroy the world… Or a mob coming after us. Why? Why don’t they hate me?”

“Because they know it wasn’t you,” Betty said. “In fact… Dad’s having some well deserved problems.”

“But? Doesn’t this prove he was right all along?” Bruce asked in confusion.

Betty caught his hand, “Honey, you’re not hearing me: New York knows you. They know that the Hulk doesn’t just go crazy and start smashing cities for no reason. Everyone has seen the video and the pictures of Wanda Maximoff using her powers to trigger the Hulk.”

“But how does that affect the General?” Bruce asked.

“The Hulk doesn’t just go nuts without a reason,” Betty explained. “So someone, J.A.R.V.I.S. swears it wasn’t him, started looking at the other ‘Hulk Incidents’, trying to figure out what caused them. The S.H.I.E.L.D. data dump pointed them towards Dad then they hacked the Pentagon. There’s a clear pattern of General Thaddeus Ross ordering additional units to US embassies in cities a week to two weeks before a Hulk Incident.”

“Sorry if I’m being slow. I just can’t quite get my head around the part where Hulk isn’t being blamed. But what’s happening?” Bruce asked.

“Well, nothing’s gone to court,” Betty said. “In the States there have been several dozen individual suits filed against Dad for reckless endangerment, damages or emotional distress either for Harlem or Culver but they’ve been dismissed. They’re saying the evidence the hacker leaked is inadmissible because the government won’t confirm if it’s real or not. But there are a half dozen South and Central American governments looking at the data and saying it’s good enough for them to believe that a US general was ordering unsanctioned military actions within their borders. Brazil’s demanding that Dad be extradited for trial in conjunction with the Rio Incident.”

“Rio?” Bruce blinked. “That wasn’t a bad one. I mean, I didn’t think was much damage that time.”

“There wasn’t,” Betty said. “But with the increased pressure, the government had to produce Blonsky, to prove that the Abomination wasn’t out there somewhere waiting to strike again if nothing else. He and Dad are trading accusations back and forth about how Blonsky ended up with the serum in his veins. That probably won’t go anywhere but Blonsky apparently recognized that his orders to engage you in Rio weren’t koser so he kept records, to make sure Dad would go down with him if nothing else. The other South American countries where incidents took place have basically agreed that Brazil has the best case against him. Still Dad’s one of the few top government officials who came out of the whole Killian/HYDRA shit storm clean… The US is protecting him, they haven’t even asked for his resignation as Secretary of Defense, but he had to recuse himself for any UN involvement. There’s a block of over fifty countries who have said they will refuse to even consider any legislature regarding Enhanced Persons that Dad’s had a hand in drafting.”

“That’s, that’s great,” Bruce said. “Almost feels like I should thank Maximoff.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Betty said sourly. “She made Hulk hurt himself… It was… They had to operate on you. Skull fractures, brain bleeds. All the doctors agree that you’re healing wonderfully, it turns out the serum has an effect on your healing ability regardless of your form, but... If that woman was in front of me? I’d shoot her without hesitation. Whatever she made you, Hulk, see that you’d do that to yourself, she’s a walking nightmare.”

“Well mostly I’d want to thank her because I’m pretty sure it would tick her off,” Bruce admitted. “Then I’d cheerfully watch her locked up and the key thrown away. Still, that vision, it-” He sighed. “Maybe it was an epiphany I needed.”

Betty looked at him questioningly.

“I realized that even on his good days, Brian Banner wasn’t a good man,” Bruce said quietly. “When I was a kid, on the good days, I used to think if he could just be like that all the time everything would be great. And in the other timeline, the time I spent with the Avengers, it was like a year long string of my father’s ‘good days’. That was... Nice. Familiar and nice. Everything I thought I wanted from a family. Nice, but not good, I think. It was, maybe, something I needed to see: How my father’s ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’ were part of the same horror story… Obviously neither Hulk or I, or anyone, needed her driving us berserk in the middle of a populated city, but… There’s nothing good about recreating the ‘good days’ from my childhood.”

“I’m- I’m sorry Bruce,” Betty sighed.

“No,” Bruce said, shaking his head. “Better to give up illusions than to be complacent in letting it happen again.”

“Oh, you’re awake,” Dr. Strange said letting himself into the room. He frowned at Betty, “You should have called me.”

“Dr. Strange?” Bruce sat up in bed. “Is Wong with you?”

Strange glared intently at Bruce, “How do you know Wong?” he demanded.

“Has he told you anything about...” Bruce asked cautiously.

“How would he?” Strange growled. “Wong’s soul was ripped from his body in 2012. The Ancient One put him in my care, I’ve been looking for a cure, or even just a reason, as long as I’ve been Sorcerer Supreme. So I repeat Dr. Banner: How do _you_ know Wong?”

“2012? The day of the Invasion of Manhattan?” Bruce asked.

Strange’s lips pursed. “Yes,” he admitted.

Bruce licked his lips, “The Time Stone or -um- the Eye of Agamotto. In May of 2019 Wong will use the Time Stone to send the consciousness of… at least several hundred individuals from across the galaxy back in time so that we could prevent an immortal madman named Thanos from wiping out half the life in the Universe.”

“What?” Strange asked.

Bruce shrugged. “Thanos thought it would eliminate resource scarcity.”

“Madman doesn’t do him justice,” Strange replied flatly. “That’s just stupid.”

“And horrific to live through,” Bruce said. “The Snap. The aftermath when, in a moment, half the population was just gone. The death toll in the first five minutes after the Snap was in the tens of thousands on Earth from plane wrecks and car wrecks mostly. Religious crisis. Infrastructure breaking down making it even more impossible for people to find their loved ones. The suicide rate went through the roof in the first month…

“Things were starting to level out at the point where we went back but there were still new, unanticipated costs being discovered: Medications that couldn’t be manufactured anymore. Kids who died from neglect before anyone realized their guardians were gone. Food production disruptions… We were expecting a famine to set in the US in another three to four months when the current supply of canned goods ran low and couldn’t be restocked at a necessary level. I assume the rest of the Universe was in a similar state of chaos. Wong sent us back as part of a plan to stop Thanos before the Snap. I woke up on the day of the Invasion with knowledge of the next seven years.”

“And Wong, who supposedly cast this spell, collapsed,” Strange said tensely. “A soulless husk.”

* * *

 

**~ Steve ~**

“How do we do this?” Steve asked as they pulled into a parking lot near the Triskelion. “I’m guessing they changed the locks.”

“Well, if someone had told us about Zola -I don’t know- a year ago,” Clint offered. “We could have shoved a grenade down his cooling vent, easy-peasy.”

The Soldier cuffed is ear, “We’re working Archer.”

Steve shot him a grateful look.

“They are backdoors,” Natasha said. “S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t a trusting bunch,” she shrugged, “And me more than most. The building has been locked down since Rodriguez went to jail, once we’re inside it should be private enough to blast through the floors into the hanger.”

As the four of them crept up to the building Clint raised a hand, “It’s not abandoned,” he said.

Steve saw it a moment later, the side door they’d been headed towards cracked open. Clint pulled Steve back into the bushes while Natasha and the Soldier smoothly moved to flank the door. A rotund man in blue overalls and a knit sweater stepped out. The Soldier grabbed him and slapped a hand over his mouth. “Are you alone?” Natasha asked drawing a knife and brushing it over his cheeks. “Just shake your head or nod.”

The man nodded his head frantically.

“Don’t know if I believe him,” the Soldier said conversationally. “Maybe slit his nostril then ask again.”

“Bucky!” Steve couldn’t help but protest when their unfortunate prisoner began to hyperventilate.

“Spoil sport,” Natasha said. “I wanted to see if he’d piss himself.”

“You yell or try to run, I break your neck,” the Soldier warned his prisoner. “Captain America there ain’t fast enough to stop me.”

“Captain America!” the guy breathed lunging at Steve as if to hug him. “We’re saved.”

“What’s going on in there?” Steve asked with serious concern.

The guy looked around nervously. “Not here. There’s a crew of us. Please, we didn’t sign on for the shit that’s going down there.”

“Alright,” Steve decided. “Where can we talk?”

Several minutes later they were back in the car driving towards the warehouse district. “Phineas Mason,” the guy introduced himself. “So we started out as a Salvage Crew in New York, we had a contract with the city in 2012, the clean up from the Invasion was going to be our big break but a few months later the government says we can’t resell the shit, that it’s too dangerous.”

Steve and Natasha nodded. “Well, duh it’s dangerous,” Clint scoffed.

“It’s cool,” Mason disagreed. “But aside, we’re a _salvage_ company. Our contract with the city paid a pittance to clean up the damage, we were counting the money from resales to make a profit. They were bankrupting us! Wouldn’t change the contract either, wouldn’t offer us a fair wage. So what we decided who cares if the government didn’t want us to sell, there assholes making it impossible for an honest man to make a living… And there were people out there who didn’t care about the laws. I knocked together some stuff and we went looking buyers.”

Steve frowned disapprovingly.

“Right after all that fuss with S.H.I.E.L.D. we found a big new buyer. All the contact’s online but he pays good, doesn’t just want weapons neither. He sends me everything they’ve got on Iron Man’s power source and tells me figure out how to replicate it. But Stark doesn’t just leave his tech lying around so I’ve got scraps of blueprints, third party speculation and the patent from the old, room sized, version. Figuring this out, it’s a whole different league from taking a Chitauri energy core and figuring out how to make it work with Earth-tech.

“So I’m not making progress fast enough for the guy and the next thing we know,” Mason twisted his hands together. “They sic the twins on us. That Witch, she says she’s there to ‘motivate’ us... Goes combing through our heads, I never screamed so much in my life. I’d do just about anything NOT to have her anywhere near me again but-”

“You can’t torture someone into becoming a genius,” Natasha said.

Mason nodded. “I just couldn’t do what Stark did. So they bring in this new guy, South African or something, and he’s crazy. What he’s got is this poor kid, as like his prisoner or something, he says she can figure it out-” Mason twisted around in his seat to grab Steve’s arm. “This wasn’t what we signed on for, you gotta believe me. But by that point they had our families’ address. Hell, with that Witch going through our heads? She says they’ll track down Candy Martin, my first grade crush, and kill her too just ‘cause I liked her once, unless we do what we’re told. Then these last couple days there’s been a new guy involved, calls himself Insight.” Mason shuttered, “I don’t know what his game is but talking to him… That guy, he gives me the willies.”

“And so you’ll…” Natasha pressed.

“You’ve gotta talk to the boss but we’re not down with this,” Mason said. “Give us a way out -Promise you’ll keep ‘em away from our families- And we’ll whatever we can to take them down.”

He directed them to drive into a warehouse, “If this is a trap, you’ll die first,” Natasha said shifting closer to Mason.

“It’s not a trap!”

A moment later a guy wearing wings, huge and heavy looking in comparison to the Falcon wings with rotors set into them to provide lift, hovered over them like a vulture. Several more guys weilding an odd assortment of weapons stepped out of the shadows. “It’s okay!” Mason shouted. “It’s Captain America. He’s here for Zola and the other freaks. I mean, he’s beaten Zola before hasn’t he? We’ve all read the comic books.”

The flying man snorted, “If he’d dealt with Zola proper, back in the forties, we wouldn’t be in this mess today.”

Steve stepped forward. “Are the Helicarriers under the Triskelion functional?” he asked. “Because if they get in the air Insight will be able to kill anyone, anywhere in the world before they even realize they’ve been targeted.”

The flying man landed in front of Steve. “One of them is. We cannibalized the other two to get the parts to finish it.”

“No one will be safe, ever again if we don’t stop them,” Steve said with firm conviction.

“Yeah, figured as much,” the flying man sighed. “So is it just the four of you or do you have support?”

“We’re backed,” Clint assured them.

“Okay, I’m Adrian Toomes. My crew: Herman Schultz, Randy Vale, Jackson Brice and I guess you’ve already met Phineas Mason. So I’ve got a couple conditions: You get our families somewhere safe and we’ll get you into Insight’s operation.” He took a deep breath, “And we’ll stand when the fighting starts. I may not know exactly what they’re up to but I know enough to know it’s a threat to me and mine.”

“Protection for your families? How many people are we talking?” Natasha asked.

“My wife and daughter,” Toomes said. “Mason’s ma. Schultz has an old lady. Vale’s got an ex and a kid. Brice has a kid brother. They’ve been threatening practically anyone we ever talked to but realistically, that’s who they’re going after.”

“We can do that,” Natasha replied. “I’ll make a phone call and they’ll have vanished by morning. Then you take us in.”

Toomes nodded. “One more thing, Klaue is holding a kid prisoner, making her build for him. He talks about how he’d show the Ten Rings how it’s done. You will get her out of there.”

“Of course,” Steve agreed without hesitation.

* * *

 

**~ Christine ~**

 “Go away Gary!” The kid from her research, Harley Keener, was pointing a potato gun at a guy who was clearly not Tony Stark but was trying way too hard to imitate his style.

“I was just going to check your mom’s roof, make sure you don’t have any leaks,” the guy protested.

“You’re obsessed with my mom because you think she slept with Tony,” Harley accused. “It’s gross.”

Christine hung back and let the kid chase off his mom’s unwelcome suitor.

“Hi, I’m Christine Everhart. Is your mom around?” she asked.

Harley eyed her suspiciously. “You’re the reporter who did that big exposé on Tony when he got kidnapped. And the one after, about him being Iron Man and Gulmir and how there was probably someone high up at SI who’d been selling behind his back.”

“You follow my work?” Christine asked.

“I follow news about Tony,” Harley corrected.

“Because you know him?”

“No,” Harley said shortly.

“You talk like you know him,” Christine pointed out.

“He’s famous, everyone does that,” Harley argued.

Christine shook her head, “Not like you do.”

“This is about the money isn’t it?” Harley accused.

“You gotta admit it looks… Well,” Christine spread her hands.

“It nice. Mom doesn’t have to work so many shifts anymore. She comes home, we have dinner together, she nags my sister and I about homework. There are college funds for both my sister and I, Ms. Pepper even told Mom it was fine to use some of the money for her to take online classes. Mom halfway expects it just to disappear but if she finishes her degree we’ll still be better off… Because. We. Don’t. Know Why. No matter what stupid stuff you’re thinking, neither my sister or I are Tony Stark’s kid. We never met him. Mom never met him. Even Ms. Pepper doesn’t know why. Tony told her to take care of us so she did,” Harley exploded. “All I know is that the world’s wrong! I watched the Invasion on TV and I knew it was going to be okay when Tony grabbed the nuke. I knew he was going to stop them. I knew the portal would close but Tony would be okay.”

“Only he wasn’t,” Christine said quietly.

“And every day the world just gets more and more wrong! Tony was supposed to come back. Now everything’s wrong and something awful is coming and I don’t know what to do. Who’s going to believe a kid who says the world is wrong?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally it was just going to be Klaue but **Coderain** ’s speculation got me thinking about how Toomes could also be brought in. I’m being fairly friendly to Toomes but it’s a matter of limits. Klaue has crossed lines that happen to really bother Toomes… And of course there are relatively few villains who make their homes on Earth who would go along with wiping out humanity, since there isn’t much future in it for them (Toomes’ crew doesn’t have revenge clouding their brains and they’re more savvy than the Twins so they didn’t need the power to read minds to figure out that this was NOT going anywhere they wanted).
> 
>  
> 
> Next up: How Shuri got in this mess.


End file.
